Following Laurie's excellent post on the uncorrected proof of Letters Home: Correspondence, 1950-1963, we decided to see if it would be possible to uncover the mystery of the white-outs she mentions. Carefully holding the book up to the light, I was able to make out two of the three whited-out sections... Acknowledgments
Proof: Page /First edition: Page ix
"Of course this book could not exist without the permission given me by Ted and Olwyn Hughes, who have allowed me to publish sections from my daughter's correspondence and have given me the copyright for the selections from her letters."
Proof: Page 426/First edition: Page 483/486
"It is my belief that the last blow may well have been the immediate penetration of her pseudonym 'Victoria Lucas'. She now realized that the fused, caricaturized [sic.] figures in The Bell Jar which bore recognizable idiosyncrasies, were going to be identified. Those who had sacrificed for her, served and lover her were to be hurt and would consider themselves betrayed."
These comments by Aurelia Plath are interesting, especially compared to the text that replaced them.
There is a thickly whited-out bit on page 407 of the proof. I think the comments were handwritten. Throughout the copy I looked at, I saw many other insertions: mostly ellipses, one handwritten date of a letter, etc. From what I could tell, this bound proof was photocopied from an earlier marked up galley proof.
If you're interested in owning a Letters Home uncorrected proof copy, click here: there are two for sale. I do not know how common are "corrected" uncorrected proofs. In the copies I've seen in libraries, book stores, and at book fairs, they are mostly clean and truly uncorrected - appearing almost exactly as the first edition which it precedes. Indiana Univeristy at Bloomington holds the manuscript for Letters Home as well as most (maybe all?) of the original letters from Plath to her family.