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The Covers for The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 2: 1956-1963

This morning I noticed on Amazon.co.uk that the Faber & Faber cover for The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 2: 1956-1963 was displaying. So, I guess that means it is alright to show it here and elsewhere and let you all start thinking about it, discussing it, offering opinions, and everything else we are free to do with the information.

So, here are the Faber and HarperCollins covers side by side.


And for a reminder, here are the covers for the first volume.



All links accessed: 11 June 2018

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  1. Amy Rea11 June, 2018 07:51

    I think I prefer the Faber. It's less "posed" and polished than the other one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kristina Zimbakova11 June, 2018 11:37

    I like all covers except the American edition of Letters II. The US cover of Letters I is my favorite. But, we won't discuss tastes :-), it is pointless.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A Piece of Plathery11 June, 2018 17:53

    They are lovely Peter, I love the new photo on Harper but certainly have a soft spot for a Plath Profile pic :) ahhh amazon no longer shipping to Australia. Book depository it is.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Peter K Steinberg14 June, 2018 09:00

    Thanks for your comments Amy, Kristina, and Plathery! I suspected that each of us would have our own preferences on the cover photographs/designs.

    ~pks

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown15 June, 2018 19:36

    Apologies for entering the discussion late; but the Faber profile photo is a favorite. It is one of few in which SP looks real to me. In a lot of other photos, she is “on” or posed or both. This photo exposes her humanity and youth, especially out of its context. This is a young woman with whom one could have a conversation, go on a picnic, or have a drink after work. The rest of the covers remind me of just that, cover shots, after a fashion and somewhat self conscious. No secret which among the four is my favorite. Thank you Peter.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous18 June, 2018 02:09

    I really like that the photos featured on Volume II are less familiar (and perhaps even never-before-published?). It suggests that with this volume we'll have a chance to see Plath in new ways.

    ReplyDelete

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