Major Sylvia Plath Archive Auction at Sotheby's on 2 December 2014

Sotheby's is auctioning a major archive of Sylvia Plath materials including stories, poems, a letter, photographs, lecture notes and other items in New York City on 2 December 2014. It's all I can do not to pass out.

Sylvia Plath: AN ARCHIVE OF PLATH'S EARLY POETRY AND SHORT STORIES (BOTH MANUSCRIPT AND TYPESCRIPT), COLLEGE LECTURE NOTES, A TYPED LETTER, AND TWO SELF-PORTRAITS IN INK AND CRAYON. WELLESLEY AND NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS, C. 1946–1954

The archive comprises:

Short stories.
Autograph manuscripts and typescripts, 1946–1953 where dated, as follows:
1) "On the Penthouse Roof," autograph manuscript in pencil, 3 1/2 pp., 18 May 1946.
2) "The Mummy's Tomb," autograph manuscript in pencil, 4 pp., 17 May 1946.
3) "Gramercy Park," typescript with a few corrections, 6 pp. [1948].
4) "The Green Rock," two typescripts, one corrected, 11 and 12 pp.
5) "The International Flavor," two typescripts, one corrected, 3 and 3 1/4 pp., Wellesley, summer 1950.
6) "Two Gods of Alice Denway," typescript with a few corrections, 6 pp., written for class "English 347a," with annotations by her teacher.
7) "Among the Bumblebees," typescript, 7 pp., Smith College [numers 6 and 7 are different versions of the same story].
8) "Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom," carbon typescript, 22 pp., Smith College [1953], with a letter of rejection from the editor of Mademoiselle.
9) "The Dark River," typescript, 6 1/2 pp.
10) "New England Summer," typescript with a few corrections, 3 1/2 pp., Wellesley
11) "First Date," typescript with a few corrections, 3 1/2 pp., Wellesley.
12) "The Day Mr. Prescott Died," corrected typescript, 1 p. synopsis and 12 pp., 4 p. with typed fragments of other prose works on verso.
13) Untitled story written in the first person by a character named Stanley Edwards, typescript 7 1/2 pp.
14) Incomplete autograph manuscript of a story concerning a 19-year-old college student named Angie, 6 pp. with 2 pp. of notes.
15) Autograph notes and passages from 3 other stories. 16 pp.

Poetry.
A collection of typescripts of 94 poems (plus 9 duplicates) written ca. 1947–55, 33 bearing substantive autograph corrections ranging from the alteration or deletion of a word to major changes.

Lecture notes.
1) Autograph lecture notes from class "Eng. 211, 221 Romanticism" at Smith College, 1951–52, 96 pp. written in ink with some passages underlined in red crayon, in a spiral notebook.
2) Autograph lecture notes from class "40b" at Smith College, 129 pp., written in ink, some passages underlines in ink or red pencil, in a stenographer's notebook.

Smith College.
1) Smith Review, Exam Blues Issue, January 1955, signed in pencil on front wrapper [contains Plath's poem "Dialogue en Route"].
2) Smith Alumnae Quarterly, February 1951 [contains extract from letter from Plath to Mrs. Olive Higgins Prouty].
3) Typescript reading lists for two English classes (1951–2, 1954), both annotated and signed.
4) Typed passage from Lessing, in German, 1 1/2 pp., annotated and signed.
5) Autograph fragment in prose (5 lines) with 3 lines of notes, 1 p.
6) A contact sheet of photographs showing Plath interviewing Elizabeth Bowen, and 4 other photographs (including one of the teenage Plath in a bathing suit and another of her holding her infant daughter).
7) A folder of newspaper clippings and a carbon copy of Plath's thesis, "The Magic Mirror. A Study of the Double in Two of Dostoevsky's Novels," Smith College, 1955.

Typed letter.
Typed letter, [Smith College], 24 April [1953], to Aurelia Plath, typed on the inner fold (12 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.) of a birthday card with autograph inscription "much love to my favorite mummy! your sivvy."

Self-portraits.
1) Self-portrait, half-length, in a semi-abstract style, ink and gouache on paper, 12 x 11 in., stamp of Plath estate on verso.
2) Self-portrait, ink and colored pencil on paper, cut out and mounted on black paper, 8 1/2 x 7 1/2 in., stamp of Plath estate on verso.

All links accessed 14 November 2014.