Sylvia Plath's postcards: 3 August 1959

Hello. Sylvia Plath sent the below post card of San Francisco's Lombard Street to her in-laws, Edith and William Hughes, on 3 August 1959. The original postcard recently sold via the Sotheby's auction. It was Lot 39. This image of the front and back came from eBay, which is a much more affordable way to own a copy of this postcard! Whomever won it, and frankly those that won any of the lots, are very lucky people and I hope that the items are cherished.

The full text of the postcard appeared first in 2018's The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 2. (Amazon | & remember, the Faber paperback published in 2019 has content not in the hardback: Amazon UK).

If you are interested in Plath's cross country trip in the summer of 1959, and want to see how this postcard fits into the narrative of that excursion, then please read David Trinidad's wonderful essay "On the Road with Sylvia and Ted."

All links accessed 17 July 2021.

Famous Quotes of Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath inspires us all in various and wonderful ways. She is in many respects a form of comfort to us, which is something that Esther Greenwood expresses in The Bell Jar , about a bath: "There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them. Whenever I'm sad I'm going to die, or so nervous I can't sleep, or in love with somebody I won't be seeing for a week, I slump down just so far and then I say: 'I'll go take a hot bath.'" We read and remember Sylvia Plath for many reasons, many of them deeply personal and private. But we commemorate her, too, in very public ways, as Anna of the long-standing Tumblr Loving Sylvia Plath , has been tracking, in the form of tattoos. (Anna's on Instagram with it too, as SylviaPlathInk .) The above bath quote is among Sylvia Plath's most famous. It often appears here and there and it is stripped of its context. But I think most people will know it is from her nove...

Sylvia Plath's Gravestone Vandalized

The following news story appeared online this morning: HEPTONSTALL, ENGLAND (APFS) - The small village of Heptonstall is once again in the news because of the grave site of American poet Sylvia Plath. The headstone controversy rose to a fever pitch in 1989 when Plath's grave was left unmarked for a long period of time after vandals repeatedly chiseled her married surname Hughes off the stone marker. Author Nick Hornby commented, "I like Plath, but the controversy reaching its fever pitch in the 80s had nothing to do with my book title choice." Today, however, it was discovered that the grave was defaced but in quite an unlikely fashion. This time, Plath's headstone has had slashed-off her maiden name "Plath," so the stone now reads "Sylvia Hughes." A statement posted on Twitter from @masculinistsfortedhughes (Masculinists for Ted Hughes) has claimed responsibility saying that, "We did this because as Ted Hughes' first wife, Sylvia de...

Sylvia Plath and McLean Hospital

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