Back in 2020, an unfinished drawing by Sylvia Plath appeared, and sold, via auction . The winner was a lucky person, as Sylvia Plath drawings are rare and unique. The drawing does not appear in 2013's Sylvia Plath: Drawings . The reason being it first appeared at auction in 2006, so it probably was no longer in Frieda Hughes' possession as was the case with the rest of these drawings that were part of the Mayor Gallery exhibition and sale. Likely as not because there was so little information about it; though there are unfinished and unidentified works included in that book. Annually, around May for some reason, I search for this church. Plath's life is so well-documented that one practically knows her whereabouts for any given day. Using her letters and journals and pocket calendars, I created a list of all the times she mentioned drawing or sketching something in an effort to trace this unfinished village church scene. Based on what is visible, I did not think it was Engl...

October is American Archives Month in the US, so let us look at the first of a few Sylvia Plath Collections I have been sitting on for years! As with much else at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City, their Sylvia Plath holdings are remarkable. As of 14 March 2017, the catalog returns more than 100 records when searching all collections. Certain collections are not applicable, such as Medieval Images Only and Music Manuscripts and Books. But, of those  records there are treasures lurking any reasonable way you sort it. The items discussed in this post were worked with one day in January 2017 and the excessive delay in posting about it was due to the embargo on anything to the with Plath's letters. My reason for the trip was to work with the letters from Plath to the Merwins and to William and Edith Hughes. If you want limited editions and rare books, the Morgan Library has something for you to look at. They have several copies of the rare printing of A Winter Sh...

Recently it was announced that poet W. S. Merwin was made Poet Laureate. While they met in Massachusetts, Merwin and his then wife Dido, of course, were influential in helping Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes get settled in London in 1960. And, Plath used their flat in 1961 to write poems, and more notably The Bell Jar. Merwin is a terrifically prolific poet, publishing poems, translations, plays and so much more. In 1961, he published his third book of translations, Some Spanish Ballads (London: Abelard). What’s so special about his title is that it is dedicated to Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Beside Hughes’ The Hawk in the Rain and Lupercal , this is the only other book I know of dedicated to Plath during her lifetime.

Emory Universit's Ted Hughes collection hold some letters to W. S. Merwin and his wife Dido, from 1958-1969. Plath is a named person in these letters obviously as the Merwin's were very influential to Plath and Hughes from around 1958 on. Remember that Plath wrote much of novel The Bell Jar in the Merwin's house, located at 11 St. George's Terrace (pictured to the right), alongside and overlooking Primrose Hill. Anne Steveson's Bitter Fame prints a small memoir by Dido as an appendix, and also retells the somewhat humorous story of Plath and Hughes visit to the Merwin's in France in 1961. Letters to W. S. (William Stanley) and Dido Merwin, 1958-1969 The collection contains correspondence from English poet Ted Hughes to W.S. and Dido Merwin from 1958-1969. Hughes first writes in 1958 from Northhampton, Massachusetts while teaching at Amherst. The next letters chronicle the young couples' move back to England and subsequent birth of their daughter in 1960...