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Sylvia Plath Collections: Middlebury College

Back in June of 2008, Bloomsbury Auctions offered for sale an illustrated short story by Sylvia Plath entitled "Aunt Rennie and the Elves." Off and on since then I have made half-hearted attempts at finding it. Well, the other day I put a little more effort into it and found its hiding place. (In the end was not very hard to locate.)

The Special Collections department of Middlebury College in Vermont is now the proud owner of the typed short story which is signed at the end in pencil "By Sylvia."

The catalog entry at Middlebury summarizes the story thus: "The story follows a young boy who comes to live with Aunt Rennie and the elves after being sent into the forest by his cruel stepfather".

The story features two clipped illustrations from a product called Junket Rennet Powder by Vernon Grant. The advert, entered into US copyright on 29 January 1943, reads, "I go all over the world turning tears into happy smiles"... says Aunt Rennie. The full advert, right, shows a recipe for their rennet-custard desserts, was found on Pintrest from an eBay auction.

I am really happy to find where this early short story, from circa 1943, is held now. It is now listed on the Archival Materials page of A celebration, this is.

But wait, there's more. The Special Collections has a rich and healthy number of Sylvia Plath books, too. Included among them are a first Heinemann edition of The Colossus (1960), A Winter Ship (1960) , a Victoria Lucas edition of The Bell Jar (purchased in 1987 for $500!) as well as other first and limited editions.

My most sincere thanks to Nellie Pierce for her help.

This blog was posted from Gail Crowther's house, which is very special for me as it was my first ever visit here and it is Sylvia Plath's birthday.

All links accessed 14 September 2018.
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  1. Kristina Zimbakova27 October, 2018 06:43

    Aren't you two going to Plath's resting place today? I see on googlemaps that Lancaster - Hebden Bridge is only about an hour distance by train :-(. Please do, and share photos with us. Happy Plathing and Happy Plath's birthday!!!

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