Title: Ariel
Publication Date: 1965
Binding: Hardcover
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
Edition: 1st Edition
86 printed pages (edges a little dust-stained). First editon, first impression. First Printing with the words "First Published in mcmlxv" printed on the copyright page.
142 x 222mm. Original red cloth (in very good condition), spine lettered in gilt, complete with original colour printed dust jacket (central panel a trifle dust-stained and with some minor chips at the head and tail; corners very slightly worn; some slight age toning). A very good copy. This First Issue dustjacket has the publisher's 12s 6d net printed price present on the front flap.
Sylvia Plath's first posthumous poetry collection, her second overall, published two years after her suicide. Plath considered this collection of poems the best she had created and predicted to her mother that "they will make my name" (Letters, p. 468). Ariel was edited by Ted Hughes, who adjusted Plath's original ordering of the pieces, omitted 13 poems, and added ten more. According to his daughter,Frieda, Hughes "wished to give the book a broader perspective in order to make it more acceptable to readers, rather than alienate them" (Ariel: The Restored Edition, 2007, p. xvi). Whether Ted Hughes's decisions deserved to be the subject of criticism, he was unquestionably successful in editing Plath's most lasting poetry book, the one which first achieved her greatest literary impact and gave rise to her widespread renown.
Tabor A5a. 'Letters Home: Correspondence, 1950-1963', Sylvia Plath, 1975.
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