Sylvia Plath books at auction

Thomson Roddick auctioneers offered four Sylvia Plath book lots as part of their sale of books from the collection of The Property of The Late Dr George Kozikowski of Skye out of their Carlisle, Cumbria, location on 16 June 2021.

I watched the auction live and from the start when I joined it my blood pressure was spiking. It always does, even when I have no interest in most of the lots. Prices below are hammer prices, not reflecting buyer's premium. Congratulations to the winners.

Lot 295: PLATH SYLVIA. Ariel. Orig. red cloth in d.w. 3rd imp., 1966; also Plath, The Colossus, d.w., 1967 & Winter Trees, 1st ed. in d.w's, 1971. (3). Estimate: £60 - £100. Sold for £130

Lot 296: PLATH SYLVIA. Uncollected Poems. Ltd. ed. 150. Orig. pict. card wrappers, some browning & spotting. Turret Books, 1965; also Plath, A Day in June, ltd. ed. 33/160, orig. marbled wrappers, Ely, 1981. (2). Estimate: £100 - £150. Sold for £170

Lot 297: PLATH SYLVIA. To Eva Descending the Stair, fldg. pictorial card; also 7 others, Sylvia Plath. (8). Estimate: £50 - £80. Sold £100

Lot 298: PLATH SYLVIA. Fiesta Melons. Ltd. ed. 150, this an unsigned copy. Illus. Quarto. Orig. maroon cloth in slip case. Rougemont Press, 1971; also Sylvia Plath, Crystal Gazer and Lyonesse, ltd. eds. 300 in slip cases, both Rainbow Press, 1971. (3). Estimate: £300 - £400. Sold £400

All links accessed 14 June 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...

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