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Lot 289

PLATH (SYLVIA)]
The Bell Jar by Victoria Lucas, UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY, Heinemann, 1962

24 June 2015, 11:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £5,250 inc. premium

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[PLATH (SYLVIA)]

The Bell Jar by Victoria Lucas, UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY, publisher's wrappers, lettered "(Not for Sale) Uncorrected Proof Copy" and "Publication Date: 14th January, 1963. Price: 18s.Od." on upper cover, spotting, small tear to upper joint, 8vo, Heinemann, 1962

Footnotes

"AND HOW ARE YOU FEELING THIS MORNING, MISS LUCAS?" Uncorrected proof of Sylvia Plath's only novel, issued under the pseudonym of Victoria Lucas.

There are upwards of seventy textual variations between the uncorrected proof (1962), and the final published first edition released by Heinemann in 1963. "These textual differences are the result of edits made either by Plath herself when she reviewed the proof or by the editors as they prepared the final typesetting. This shows that Plath read her proofs of The Bell Jar very carefully and extends our understanding of her involvement in the creative process beyond the composition of the work itself" (Peter K. Steinberg, Textual Variations in The Bell Jar Publications, online resource University of Indiana). For instance in this proof copy on two pages (pp.187/188) the name of the novel's heroine Esther Greenwood remains as "Miss Lucas", the pseudonym under which Plath published the novel, and on p.53 "Plato" was altered to "Socrates". This copy has the eventual date of publication stamped on upper cover. See illustration overleaf.

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