"I am, I am, I am"
PLATH, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Evanston, New York: Harper & Row, Publishers. 1971.
8vo. Original maroon cloth-backed boards and wrapper; pp. 296, text illustrations by the author; slight browning to endpapers, wrapper with crease to rear fold-in, very light spots to fore-edges, very good.
First US edition, with a biographical note by Lois Ames. It took eight years for Plath's most famous work, following the psychological disintegration of the brillaint young Esther Greenwood, to be published in her home country due to the wishes of Ted Hughes and her mother. It was first published in the UK under the pseudonym of Victoria Lucas - the novel was so close to Plath's real life that her publisher feared libel action. By 1971 her fame was secured and her story was known so that anonymity was no longer necessary. The book was an immediate hit in the US and has cemented its place as a cultural touchstone.
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