Earlier I've gone through the sold/past lot of Sotheby's and Christie's. Today it's Bonhams & Buttefields. B & B's sold lot archive only goes back to 2003 as of right now. In lot 418 on 29 June 2004, a Heinemann first edition of The Bell Jar by Victoria Lucas sold for £1,673. In lot 89 on 11 May 2005, a threesome set of First Faber editions sold for £165. The three titles were Ariel , Crossing the Water , and Winter Trees . A steal... It is likely we all remember lot 73 in the 3 October 2005 sale of a hand-drawn portrait of Ted Hughes by Plath that sold for £27,600. A handsome edition of the first Faber Bell Jar (1966) sold for £264 in lot 85 on 20 May 2008. Also on this day in lot 146 a Heinemann first of The Bell Jar with a truly terribly dust-wrapper failed to sell. Then there is that letter from Sylvia Plath to "Miss Reutlinger" that failed to sell in lot 2211 on 13 February 2011. I'm beginning to think that Kim's ide...

Be on the lookout for an article on Sylvia Plath by Carl Rollyson, forthcoming this weekend on BiblioBuffet . The article title and direct link will be placed here once it's up... UPDATE: Rollyson's article " Revisionist Biography " is now online. Rollyson is working on a biography of Plath scheduled to be published in 2013, around the time of the 50th anniversary of her death. You can learn more at Carl's website .

Just a brief auction sold lot to mention today. Heritage Auctions . On one of the most Plathian days in 2009, June 16, a lovely Victoria Lucas edition of The Bell Jar sold in Lot 37219 for $1553.50 inclusive of buyers premium. The description from the sale reads: "[Sylvia Plath]. Victoria Lucas [pseudonym]. The Bell Jar. London: Heinemann, 1963. "First edition. Octavo. 258 pages. Dust jacket designed by Thomas Simmonds. "Original black cloth with titles stamped in gilt on the spine. Small Grolier Book Shop sticker to the lower front free endpaper. Dust jacket price-clipped with some small folds at the lower front edge, trivial toning to the back panel, and light wear to the spine panel including a small round scrape mid-spine. Overall, a very good copy. "An exceptional first edition of Sylvia Plath's first book written under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. Sadly it was to be her last book as she committed suicide a month after its initial publication. Truly a ro...

In the past I have reported on Sotheby's Sold Lot Archive (see the 500th post and also the 598th post of this blog) and how it is a fascinating glimpse into one faction of the book markets' supply & demand. Here is a look at Christie's sold lot archive. There is some cool stuff... First a hybrid book that was mentioned in the Sotheby's post a week ago...The Wilbury Crockett copy of The Colossus that sold in on 2009 at Sotheby's was sold through Christie's (seven years earlier if you want to know) in lot 53 on 11 October 2002 for $35,850. The sale price at Sotheby's was £17,500, or roughly $28,550, so it actually represents a loss of about $7,300. This copy is currently for sale for £37,500 (or $60,518.64) through the reputable and estimable Peter Harrington Rare Books of London. I hope that you are seated...On 9 December 1998 - just 42 days after Ted Hughes passed away - this very unique copy of The Colossus sold in Lot 46 . This was an inscribed c...

A couple times since 2009, I have mentioned items at auction, including the Sotheby’s Sold Lot Archive which is an amazing time capsule into fine, unique, and rare Plath related items that have come and gone on and off the market. Below is a list of those items that can be found in Sotheby's Sold Lot Archive. Look! There is nothing wrong with looking! (On that note, I hope all the links work. It's been a while since I started this post...) Over the next couple of weeks I will also highlight other archived auctions. I’m very interested in this kind of thing and having worked with many fine editions of Plath’s books in libraries and archives, and seeing a number for sale at book fairs, just knowing these things are out there (or were out there) gives me absolute hope that there is more! It’s also a glimpse into how the other half lives! Not all of the auctions have images, but those that do are amazing, especially those that offer a zoom option. Book collecting is something ...

The Hornbake Library (left) at the University of Maryland at College Park now holds the Frances McCullough papers, 1915-1994. Below is an abstract of the collection. "Editor and cookbook author Frances Monson McCullough began her career as an editor at Harper & Row in 1963, moved to Dial Press in 1980, and on to Bantam Books in 1986. She has worked with authors and poets including Djuna Barnes, Donald Hall, Ted Hughes, Laura (Riding) Jackson, N. Scott Momaday, Sylvia Plath, W. D. Snodgrass, and Robert Bly. "The collection includes correspondence; manuscripts and proofs for The Telling (1972) by Laura (Riding) Jackson; Gaudete (1977) by Ted Hughes; Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams (1977), the Journals of Sylvia Plath (1982), and Letters Home (1975) by Sylvia Plath; Sleepers Joining Hands (1973) by Robert Bly; Selected Poems (1987) by W. D. Snodgrass; and House Made of Dawn (1968) by N. Scott Momaday; artwork by N. Scott Momaday; and photographs. "The collection i...

In addition to forthcoming books by Tracy Brain & Sally Bayley, Janet Badia, and Kim Crowley to look forward to in 2011, we now have Uta Gosmann’s Poetic Memory: Sylvia Plath, Susan Howe, Ellen Hinsey, Louise Glück (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 16 July 2011). The first and last poets in the subtitle excite me beyond admission, and I look forward to learning more about the middle two in what promises to be an excellent summer read. Gosmann is no stranger to Plath, or this blog. You will remember (of course) that at the 2007 Oxford University Plath Symposium, Ms. Gosmann gave a talk on “Double Inscriptions: Plath’s “Amnesiac” and Hughes’s “The Calm.” One can only hope this appears in her book.