In August 1961, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes were preparing to move from their tiny 3 Chalcot Square flat in London to the spacious Court Green in North Tawton, Devonshire. When they took the flat in February 1960, they had signed a three-year lease which included the option to sublet should the need arise. The flat was so small that for much of the time one or the other would go elsewhere to write. Ted Hughes first used the flat of W.S. and Dido Merwin nearby at 11 St. George's Terrace; Plath used this space too when she was not writing in their living room. In addition, Hughes also used the small attic flat above theirs rented by "Mrs. Morton" (Mary K. Morton), a character in her own right who became the subject of Plath's September 1960 poem "Leaving Early". On 13 August 1961, Plath wrote to her mother: "We put an ad in the paper for our flat (with a $280 fee for 'fixtures and fittings' to cover the cost of our decorating, lino, shelves, and...

A small note in the Journals of Sylvia Plath indicates that the 1962 journals that form Appendix 15 were "arranged thematically by the editor as SP did not indicate a specific order" (703). They date by and large to the period after the birth of Nicholas Farrar Hughes on 17 January 1962 and continue to early July 1962, just after Percy Key's funeral. In this space of time, Plath wrote her long dramatic poem for three voices "Three Women", and a host of other "Ariel"-voice poems such as "Elm", "Little Fugue", "The Rabbit Catcher" and "Berck-Plage" as well as beautiful poems like "Pheasant" and "Among the Narcissi". When reading these journals, you can see the cross-over between the capturing of private experience in her journals and the reshaping of it in the art of her poetry, particularly in "Among the Narcissi" and "Berck-Plage" which both feature Court Green cottage nei...

Since October 2013 , for American Archives Month, Sylvia Plath Info Blog has been highlighting various archives that hold Sylvia Plath archival materials. At the time twelve or so posts were planned, but that number has been far exceeded. It was certainly never imagined it would take this long to work through all the various collections, but in the process of looking, a number of additional places that hold documents were located that warranted inclusion. You can find all of them and more by searching the label " Sylvia Plath Collections " . But despite finding still more additional caches of archival holdings --a man must be allow his little secrets for a rainy day -- this is the final post in the series. Knowledge of all these archival collections does benefit all of Plath's readers, and with rare exception, copies can be obtained of these materials for a small fee. Some of these places and the documents they hold discussed over the last five months I had been hoarding ...

The William Heinemann Ltd archives, which are a part of Random House Group UK, hold materials by and relating to Sylvia Plath. Included among the documents are letters to, from, and about Plath, her book contracts ( The Colossus , 1960, and The Bell Jar , 1963). This post looks at the Heinemann archive materials both in the Random House Group UK archive and documents that are held in the Sylvia Plath Collection at Smith College. The bar at the York Minster Pub (now The French House), in March 2013 Plath signed her Heinemann contract for The Colossus on 10 February 1960 at the York Minster Pub (now The French House) at 49 Dean Street, Soho, London ( map ). She wrote proudly about the experience in a letter jointly addressed to her mother and brother the following day, 11 February: "picture (yesterday) your daughter/sister ... of enormous & impressive size, sailing into the notorious York Minster pub on Dean Street in Soho, just off Shaftesbury Avenue, about 12:15 & ...

The Emmanuel d'Alzon Library at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, holds the letters Sylvia Plath wrote to Father Michael Carey between October 1962 and February 1963. Gail Crowther and I wrote about these letters a bit in our most recent "These Ghostly Archives" paper: " These Ghostly Archives 5: Reanimating the Past ". Some of the below was stated in this paper but this post should fill out the content of the letters... The letters are not "new". They were first published as an Appendix to Toni Saldívar's 1992 book Sylvia Plath: Confessing the Fictive Self (Peter Lang) on pages 201-206. However, at the time of the books publication Carey still held the letters, and not all of the letters were printed. To protect his interests, for example, Father Michael's name was redacted, and some of Plath's handwritten additions/postscripts were not included. Although the letters were published, I will give a brief paraphrase of each...

Smith College holds photocopies of sheet music (covers only) formerly owned by Sylvia Plath. A note with these documents reads "Original sheet music in Newnham College, Cambridge Archives. Sheet music was left by Plath in her rooms at Newnham College, 1956 (?)." Four of the covers have Plath's signature; three have notes by Aurelia Plath. The original sheet music is now held by the Newnham College Archives, Cambridge, England. The titles of the sheet music that she owned and left at Newhnam are: 1) Apex Edition of Graded Albums for Piano ( WorldCat ) 2) Beethoven Moonlight Sonata ( WorldCat ) 3) C Bohm Favorite Compositions for the Piano * 4) Classic and Romantic Pianoforte Pieces ( WorldCat ) 5) Copland Scherzo Humoristique * ( WorldCat ) 6) Debussy La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin * ( WorldCat ) 7) Grieg Poetic Tone Pictures ( WorldCat ) 8) Oklahoma! ( WorldCat ) 9) Poulenc Mouvements Perpetuels * ( WorldCat ) 10) Progressive Pieces for Pianoforte ( World...

Just a small post today. Sylvia Plath had two poems published in Texas Quarterly : "Flute Notes from a Reedy Pond" and "Witch Burning". Both poems appeared in specially themed issues on Britain and largely featured British writers. Which is bizarre as Plath was American (her way of talk was an "American way of talk"…), both poems were written in Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, as parts of her sequence "Poem for a Birthday" in the Fall of 1959. However, Ted Hughes figures prominently in the issue, so she must have been lumped in with him.   In the " Texas Quarterly records", held at the University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center, there is just one typescript that a kind archivist searched for me (us!) and found: "Flute Notes from a Reedy Pond" which appeared in the Winter 1960 issue. Ted Hughes' poem "Lines to a Newborn Baby" and his story "The Caning" also appeared in the Winter 1960 issue. One...

In the J Kerker Quinn papers in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign , there is a mini treasure trove of Sylvia Plath archival materials. Quinn was the editor of the journal Accent , which published two poems ("Recantation" and "Tinker Jack and the Tidy Wives") by Plath in their Autumn 1957 issue. In the Quinn papers there are two undated letters from Plath to the Poetry Editor; five typescript poems ("The Eye-Mote"; "The Thin People"; "Landowners"; "Maudlin"; and "Green Rock, Winthrop Bay"); and a typescript of her short story "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams". Additional materials in the papers include reader report comments on Plath's submissions. The undated letters from Plath can be roughly dated to circa 5 April 1957 and 1 July 1959. This is based on the date received that was marked down on the reader reports for Accent . The 1957 lette...

Recently I was browsing through ABEbooks.com and saw something that nearly stopped my heart: a poem by Sylvia Plath called "Evolution" that appeared in a periodical called Experiment Magazine . The bookseller description reads: Chicago, 1950. Soft Cover. Book Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Very good in original wrappers with light wear. Early, perhaps the third, appearance of Plath in print. Uncommon and, to the best of our knowledge, unrecorded. Bookseller Inventory # b31364. $750. I wrote to Clayton Fine Books of Shepherdstown, WV, who has a great collection of Sylvia Plath books available to begin with, and received a reply very quickly from Cameron Northouse (who co-authored Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton: A Reference Guide  with Thomas P. Walsh in 1974, which at the time was the first full-length bibliography published on Plath). Northouse found the periodical in Maine: a very lucky find. And considering that it was a previously unrecorded publication of a poe...

Princeton University's Manuscript Division in the Department. of Rare Books and Special Collections  (on Twitter ) holds the Hudson  Review Archives .   The Hudson Review was founded by Frederick Morgan in 1948. He ran it with his wife, Paula Deitz (Smith College, class of 1959) . Sylvia Plath published four poems in their Autumn 1960 issue: "Ouija", "Electra on Azalea Path", "Suicide Off Egg Rock", and "Moonrise". As you might have guessed, there are Sylvia Plath archival materials in the collection, in box 99, folder 9. There are two letters from Sylvia Plath in the collection dated 1 June 1959 and 7 October 1961. The 1 June 1959 letter is typed, on off-white/cream colored paper, and signed in Plath's distinctive bold black Schaeffer fountain pen. Plath writes that she is happy to know that Hudson Review has accepted her four poems, and gives biographical notes about herself as well as a list of 13 journals and magazines in which...

Did you know that on August 22, 1961, Sylvia Plath was efficiently busy. Plath's busyness that day is briefly discussed in " These Ghostly Archives 5: Reanimating the Past ", a paper that I co-write with Gail Crowther. But to give some additional detail... On August 22, 1961: Plath was about nine days away from moving to Court Green... On August 22, 1961: Plath sent her drafts of her poem "Insomniac" to Eric Walter White. Collected Poems generically (generally) dates the poem to "May 1961"; however, Plath dated her final typed copy "May 23, 1961". Good to know. The letter and poetry drafts are held by the British Library in the "Cheltenham Festival prize poems" (ADD MS 52617). On August 22, 1961: Plath sent her drafts of her poem "Tulips" (variant title "Sickroom Tulips") to Jack Sweeney. This poem was written on March 18, 1961, a week or so after her release from hospital from having her appendix removed....

Currently on exhibit outside the Mortimer Rare Book Room, Neilson Library, level 3 at Smith College  is "Sylvia Plath Reads the Wife of Bath." ( There are other Plath-related exhibits on at Smith as well. ) The exhibition is based on the special studies research of Jaclyn Majewski (Smith Class of '13) and is open through September 8, 2013. The show includes Plath's annotated copy of The Poetical Works of Chaucer , journals, drawings, photographs, and early drafts of Plath's poems "Magi" and "Lady Lazarus," which was written on the back of a draft of The Bell Jar .

Today, Sotheby's auction house in London had, in Lot 31 , the copy of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim formerly owned by Sylvia Plath. The copy has Plath's bookplate, her underlinings, and her marginal annotations. There is also a note added by Ted Hughes. Estimates for the lot was that it would sell for £6,000-8,000. Plath's library is largely divided between her archives at Smith College (Mortimer Rare Book Room); Indiana University (Lilly Library); and Emory University (Robert W. Woodruff Library). In addition to those held by libraries and special collections, some copies of books formerly belonging to Plath are also held privately. Lot 31 of this auction just concluded. The book sold for a WHOPPING £12,500 /$19,357 / €14,760. Well, well above the high estimate. Go Plath! Earlier today, in another Sotheby's auction, a copy of the limited edition  Uncollected Poems  (Turret Books, 1965) sold as part of a big lot of books of "Twentieth-Century First and Limit...

Currently there are a couple of exhibits on at Smith College. One is entitled "From Petals to Paper: Poetic Inspiration from Flowers." The exhibit opened on Friday, 1 March and runs until Monday, 3 September 3. The exhibit hours are 8:30 am to 4:00 pm daily and you can see it in the Church Exhibition Gallery, Lyman Plant House, Smith College. This building is located within the dangerous Plathmuda Triangle of Haven House, the Neilson Library (which houses the estimable Sylvia Plath Collection) and Paradise Pond (home of the Hugheness Monster). "From Petals to Paper" features Plath's poem "Tulips" in which visitors can listen to the recently released rare recording of Plath reading "Tulips" from July 1961. Another Plath poem on a flower is also on display! "Among the Narcissi." The entire creative process is here: manuscript, typescript with editorial instructions, and the printed version. Additional poets of particular and ...