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Books by Sylvia Plath to be Auctioned

Bloomsbury Auctions is holding a Bibliophile Sale on Thursday 15 January 2015, 11:00am, at Baverstock House, Godalming, Surrey, England.

As you might have guessed, there are a couple of Sylvia Plath lots in the auction!

Lot no. 422 - Contains 8 books by Sylvia Plath/"Victoria Lucas"
[Plath (Sylvia)], "Victoria Lucas". - The Bell Jar
Estimate £150–200

1. The Bell Jar, Contemporary Fiction edition, light creasing to head, light rubbing and surface soiling, 1964;
2. The Bell Jar, first Faber edition, staining to front free endpaper, jacket rear panel stained, very light browning to head of spine, creasing to head, 1966, original cloth, dust-jackets, excellent copies;
and 6 others by the same, 8vo (8)

Updated: 13 January 2015
The six other titles in lot 422 are:
3. The Bell Jar, Harper & Row (hardback with dust wrapper)
4. Crossing the Water, Faber & Faber (hardback with dust wrapper)
5. Winter Trees, Faber & Faber, (hardback with dust wrapper)
6. The Bed Book, Faber & Faber (hardback with dust wrapper)
7. Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, Faber & Faber, (hardback with dust wrapper)
8. Collected Poems, Faber & Faber, (hardback with dust wrapper)

These all appear, from an image seen, to be first editions but I am unsure if in fact they are.

Lot no. 423 - Contains 7 books by Sylvia Plath
Plath (Sylvia) - Ariel
Estimate £150–200

1. Ariel, First edition, ink ownership inscription, jacket spine slightly browned, spine ends and corners a little chipped with minor repairs to verso, 1965;
2. The Colossus, jacket with closed tears to head of upper panel, New York, 1962, original cloth, dust-jackets;
and 5 others by the same, 8vo (7)

Updated: 13 January 2015
The five other titles in lot 423 are:
3. The Bell Jar, Harper & Row (hardback with dust wrapper)
4. Crossing the Water, Faber & Faber (hardback with dust wrapper)
5. Winter Trees, Faber & Faber, (hardback with dust wrapper)
6. The Bed Book, Faber & Faber (hardback with dust wrapper)
7. Collected Poems, Faber & Faber, (hardback with dust wrapper)

As with the above, these all appear, from an image seen, to be first editions but I am unsure if in fact they are. 


All links accessed 6 January 2015.
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Comments

  1. Anonymous12 January, 2015 09:32

    All mine!! ;-) ..that'd be nice......

    xxx Alina(daydreaming) p.s. Miss not being on twitter anymore to have the opportunity to interact with you+your tweets.But hate stalkers so i was forced to give it up but i found it very useful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Giles18 January, 2015 11:28

    Why does the top of one copy of the US "Bell Jar" come up to the 'P' of Plath in the title on the spine on "Winter Trees", while the copy in the other lot comes to a significantly more substantial height against the same measure?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Peter K Steinberg18 January, 2015 13:22

    Hello Giles! Quite an astute observation!! I hadn't noticed it myself and had to look at both images side-by-side to see it.

    The book club edition of the US edition of The Bell Jar is a taller volume than the first US edition issued by Harper & Row. Also, the book club edition is for all intents and purposes equal to the height of a first edition Winter Trees.

    In looking at copies of both books that I have (a first, a first edition seventh printing, and a book club edition) none appear as 'squat' as the one copy of The Bell Jar in Lot 422. Because (lamentably) not all of the books were clearly and carefully catalogued by Bloomsbury, I apologize for writing in my 13 January update that they appeared to be all first editions. It's clear they this probably isn't the case. As you may know there are differences in a first edition, a subsequent printing, and the book club edition. All use roughly the same jacket design, but the true first's boards are (as defined by Stephen Tabor) "in a bicolour clothe pattern of greyish purplish red (262) and white; dark reddish brown (44) or lighter cloth spine" (Annotated Bibliography, 17). The seventh printing I have has purple cloth over boards; and the book club edition has "deep red (13) cloth" over boards (Tabor, 18). In measuring the boards (not the text block), the first edition, first printing is 21.3 cm tall; the seventh printing is 21.2 cm; and the book club at 21.7 cm. But I'm also not a professional, so my measurements might be off! My Winter Trees is about 22.2 cm tall.

    I wish I could say why this book is so much smaller (now I seriously want a copy!!!), but I do think the one in Lot 422 is a different edition/printing. I've seen a Taiwanese pirated edition, but this is just as tall as the first edition but far slimmer (because cheaper, thinner paper was used for the printing).

    ~pks

    ReplyDelete

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