Like you, maybe, I am still fascinated and a bit mystified by the auction last week in London of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes: The Property of Frieda Hughes . I am still overly curious as to which items might end up in libraries and archives; which lots went to private collectors; and which will be seen, temporarily and with a mark up, via book or artifact dealers. I went through and made a spreadsheet of the lots with the estimates, the hammer prices and the final price including the buyer's premium. Lastly I filled in a column in Excel to denote if the item was withdrawn (1 lot); did not sell (8 lots); was under estimate (17 lots); in estimate (17 lots); or  over estimate (65 lots) The large majority went for over the high estimate, even if just barely. The in estimate could be further broken down by whether it was low, mid, or high within that estimate price range but I frankly did not want to go that far... Well, I do, but indexing the second volume of The Letters...

In just under one month, on Tuesday, 24 April 2018, I will be speaking on the Letters of Sylvia Plath and other subjects at Columbia College, Chicago. Poet and Plath scholar David Trinidad is bringing me there on a Rubin Visiting Artist Award and I would like to express my gratitude to David, Columbia College, and to Ms. Roberta Rubin for making this possible. n just under a month, on Tuesday, 24 April 2018, I will be speaking on the I will be speaking twice that day. The first is the public lecture which starts at 1:00 p.m. It will be in Hokin Hall, located at 623 S. Wabash Avenue, Chicago. The event is free and open to the public. Hokin Hall is named after Bess Hokin and in 1957, Sylvia Plath was awarded Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize. I feel like this is a wonderful little connection, not to mention, of course, that both Eddie Cohen and Ann Davidow-Goodman both came from Chicago. Esther Greenwood even thought about moving to Chicago in The Bell Jar . I will also be ...

Bonhams Knightsbridge (London) held a major Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes auction yesterday of items that are the property of Frieda Hughes. Are... perhaps I should say were. What follows is a list of those items that either sold or did not sell, and the prices realized in Great British Pounds, with buyer's premium included. Composite of all auction images Lot 301 PLATH (OTTO) Studio portrait of Otto Plath, half-length, by Bachrach, platinum print, on original mount, signed by the photographer lower right, image 160 x 115mm., [1924]; together with a copy of Otto Plath's Bumblebees and Their Ways 1934 (2) SOLD: £437 Lot 302 PLATH (SYLVIA) A fine and decorative coloured pencil drawing of flowers and birds, with accompanying autograph poem "Spring Madrigal", inscribed "To Daddy" and signed "Sylvia", coloured pencil on paper, with 4-line poem, signed by 280 x 215mm., [6 September 1940] Did Not Sell Lot 303 PLATH (SYLVIA) "Dad...

HarperCollins recently reissued four Sylvia Plath books with new covers on their Harper Perennial Modern Classics imprint. The four books are: Ariel , Ariel: The Restored Edition , The Collected Poems , and Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams . Ariel , ( HarperCollins | Amazon ) This is the first full reissue & repackaging of Plath's most famous collection of poems since 1999. It's also the first time, ever, in the US that Plath's Ariel  is published with non-white/cream cover. Ariel: The Restored Edition , ( HarperCollins | Amazon ) This is the first repackaging of Ariel: The Restored Edition since 2005, when it first appeared in paperback. I love, love, love the note on the back of the book: "Sylvia Plath's famous collection, as she intended it."  Perfect. The Collected Poems , ( HarperCollins | Amazon ) This is the first repackaging of both The Collected Poems and Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams  since 2008. Johnny Pa...

One month from today, on Sunday, 8 April 2018, Karen V. Kukil and I will be speaking on the Letters of Sylvia Plath in a program titled "On Sylvia Plath's Letters" in the Weill Art Gallery at the 92nd Street Y, located at 1395 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10128. The event is part of the Y's Books & Bagels series and is part of the Unterberg Poetry Series. The talk starts at 11 am and will be followed by a Q & A session and then a light brunch. Tickets for the event are $42. Very excited to participate in this event with Karen and at such an historically significant venue. All links accessed 21 February 2018.

The Houghton Library at Harvard University recently received and processed the Stephen B. Fassett correspondence . Fassett lived at 24 Chestnut Street, Boston , just around the corner from Plath and Hughes. He was an audio engineer who recorded many of poets during the era. I worked the the papers in this collection on 29 August 2017. There is a letter from Ted Hughes and a Christmas card signed by Sylvia Plath as well as letters from Dido Merwin, W. S. Merwin, John Lincoln ('Jack') Sweeney, and with the Estate of Isak Dinesen. All text below from the "Scope and Contents" from the finding aid to the collection. Ted Hughes correspondence Item 1. Letter to Stephen and Agatha Fassett (from 3 Chalcot Square, London, England) Date: 1960 May 14 Scope and Contents: Hughes provides an in-depth description of his and Sylvia Plath's return to England: "the perfect superhuman jungle, through which we have come" and the "two week ordeal of searching ...