Currently on exhibit outside the Mortimer Rare Book Room, Neilson Library, level 3 at Smith College  is "Sylvia Plath Reads the Wife of Bath." ( There are other Plath-related exhibits on at Smith as well. ) The exhibition is based on the special studies research of Jaclyn Majewski (Smith Class of '13) and is open through September 8, 2013. The show includes Plath's annotated copy of The Poetical Works of Chaucer , journals, drawings, photographs, and early drafts of Plath's poems "Magi" and "Lady Lazarus," which was written on the back of a draft of The Bell Jar .

Like Sylvia Plath's "Mushrooms," HarperCollins "discretely, / very quietly" published their own 50th anniversary edition of The Bell Jar in June (the 11th, to be exact). Even though it is the 42nd year The Bell Jar has been available in this country AND they used the same text as their 25th anniversary edition, first published in 1996. But, who (other than me and maybe Elena Rebollo Cortés) is paying attention, really? You can buy this edition via Amazon and possibly, if there is such a thing anymore, at a real bookstore. Following the interesting guest post by Ms Cortés  and taking into consideration the stink that arose out of Faber's cover of their 50th anniversary edition in January...how do you take this one by HarperCollins? It is certainly far more conservative... Regarding the stink from earlier this year, here is a sample article and here is Faber's response . This 50th anniversary Harper edition cover does not call attention to i...

Today, Sotheby's auction house in London had, in Lot 31 , the copy of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim formerly owned by Sylvia Plath. The copy has Plath's bookplate, her underlinings, and her marginal annotations. There is also a note added by Ted Hughes. Estimates for the lot was that it would sell for £6,000-8,000. Plath's library is largely divided between her archives at Smith College (Mortimer Rare Book Room); Indiana University (Lilly Library); and Emory University (Robert W. Woodruff Library). In addition to those held by libraries and special collections, some copies of books formerly belonging to Plath are also held privately. Lot 31 of this auction just concluded. The book sold for a WHOPPING £12,500 /$19,357 / €14,760. Well, well above the high estimate. Go Plath! Earlier today, in another Sotheby's auction, a copy of the limited edition  Uncollected Poems  (Turret Books, 1965) sold as part of a big lot of books of "Twentieth-Century First and Limit...

On 10 July at Sotheby's, the Joseph Conrad collection Collection from the Library of the late Stanley J. Seeger - Part I goes for sale in London. Of the 193 lots, one in particular strikes the fancy of this Sylvia Plath-o-phile... Lot number 31 . The description of Sylvia Plath's copy of Lord Jim reads: "8vo. Sylvia Plath's copy, bearing her signed bookplate and extensively underlined with numerous annotations by her, additionally annotated by Ted Hughes ("I read this novel, this copy, aloud | to Sylvia, in the evenings, while | she was making her rag rug - 1962. | Ted Hughes" on rear free endpaper, original red brown cloth lettered in gilt on spine and upper cover, dust-jacket, extremities bumped and sunned, occasional scribbles in green felt-tip, significant loss to dust-jacket" The estimate is £6,000-8,000. News of this copy coming up for sale was featured in " Sylvia Plath's copy of Lord Jim on sale as part of huge Joseph Conrad a...

Currently there are a couple of exhibits on at Smith College. One is entitled "From Petals to Paper: Poetic Inspiration from Flowers." The exhibit opened on Friday, 1 March and runs until Monday, 3 September 3. The exhibit hours are 8:30 am to 4:00 pm daily and you can see it in the Church Exhibition Gallery, Lyman Plant House, Smith College. This building is located within the dangerous Plathmuda Triangle of Haven House, the Neilson Library (which houses the estimable Sylvia Plath Collection) and Paradise Pond (home of the Hugheness Monster). "From Petals to Paper" features Plath's poem "Tulips" in which visitors can listen to the recently released rare recording of Plath reading "Tulips" from July 1961. Another Plath poem on a flower is also on display! "Among the Narcissi." The entire creative process is here: manuscript, typescript with editorial instructions, and the printed version. Additional poets of particular and ...