Syvlia Plath : The Bell Jar : First Edition Thus : Hardback in Dust Jacket 1966

The Bell Jar 

By Sylvia Plath

London; Faber and Faber 1966. FIrst Edition Thus. This is the first edition published under Plath's name following the pseudonymous issue of 1963 published by Heinemann. The novel was first published in 1963 under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas". Hardback book in original unclipped dust jacket, 8vo, 258 pages.

CONDITION
A very good copy. The dust jacket has its original price of 25s net intact and is free from any tears or marks, perhaps fractional rubbing to the spine ends. The cloth binding is very good with no marks. Endpapers very good. No writing or names to the book. All contents present and pages clean throughout and free from foxing, stains etc. Overall a very good copy.

The Bell Jar is the only novel written by the American writer and poet Sylvia Plath. Originally published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas" in 1963, the novel is supposedly semi-autobiographical, with the names of places and people changed. The book is often regarded as a roman à clef because the protagonist's descent into mental illness parallels Plath's own experiences with what may have been clinical depression. Plath died by suicide a month after its first UK publication.

The novel was published under Plath's name for the first time in 1966. It was not published in the United States until 1971, in accordance with the wishes of both Plath's husband Ted Hughes and her mother Aurelia Plath. In the United States, the book became an instant best-seller, and has since been translated into more than forty languages.

(GC4)