The Colossus
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6b Sylvia Plath. London: Faber and Faber, 1967. Copy Belonging to Sylvia Plath’s Detested Sister-in-Law Olwyn Hughes.
Notes
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) was one of the most brilliant, intense, and influential American writers of the 20th century. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she was a stellar student and a prolific writer from a young age, eventually earning a scholarship to Smith College and later a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to Cambridge University in England. It was in England that she met and married fellow poet Ted Hughes, a tempestuous and deeply complicated relationship that would profoundly shape her writing. Plath suffered from severe, clinical depression throughout her adult life—undergoing electroshock therapy and surviving a major suicide attempt during her college years—experiences that she would later transmute directly into her literature. Tragically, at the age of thirty, during a freezing London winter and amidst a painful separation from Hughes, Plath took her own life, leaving behind a body of work that laid bare the agonizing depths of mental illness and emotional isolation.
Published in London by William Heinemann in October 1960, The Colossus and Other Poems stands as the only collection of poetry Sylvia Plath published during her lifetime. Unlike the raw, unbridled fury that defined her posthumous masterpiece Ariel, The Colossus showcases a young poet operating with immense technical precision, formal constraint, and classical discipline. The imagery throughout the volume is deeply anchored in macabre landscapes, natural elements, and psychological unease, with the title poem itself acting as an extended conceit for her late father, Otto Plath, whom she envisions as a shattered, monumental classical statue she is desperately trying to reconstruct. Following her tragic death, the publication history took a significant turn when the first Faber & Faber edition of the book was printed in the United Kingdom in 1967. Crucially for collectors checking bibliographic details, this landmark 1967 reissue was published under the copyright of Ted Hughes, signaling his absolute legal control over her literary estate following her passing. While contemporary critics praised the book's flawless craftsmanship, its formal restraint ultimately caused it to be overshadowed by the radical, taboo-breaking "confessional" style she developed in her final months. Today, however, it is recognized as a vital foundational text that maps her early transition from an academic writer into a major figure of 20th-century literature.
The relationship between Sylvia Plath and her sister-in-law, Olwyn Hughes, was intensely volatile and fraught with mutual resentment. Olwyn, who was Ted Hughes's older sister and a glamorous, sharp-tongued literary agent living in Paris, clashed almost immediately with Plath's high-strung, intensely possessive personality. Observers and friends noted that Olwyn deeply envied Plath's creative brilliance, American privilege, and total emotional hold over Ted, while Plath felt deeply judged and alienated by Olwyn's sharp critiques and overbearing presence in their marriage. The animosity peaked during a disastrous Christmas visit in 1961, where an explosive verbal argument between the two women drove a permanent wedge into the household, leaving Plath feeling abandoned by a passive Ted. This deep-seated hatred did not dissipate with Plath's passing; following the suicide, Olwyn openly vocalized her disdain for her late sister-in-law, frequently describing Plath to biographers as a calculated, "mixed-up," and demanding presence who brought about her own psychological ruin.
The irony of Plath’s legacy is that control over her poetry and prose ended up squarely in the hands of the very woman who detested her. When Sylvia Plath died in London in February 1963, she died intestate—meaning she had left no legal will. Because she and Ted Hughes were legally married but merely separated at the time of her death, British inheritance law automatically granted total ownership of her estate, physical property, and unpublished intellectual copyrights to Ted. Overwhelmed by the public backlash regarding his infidelity and unequipped to manage the skyrocketing commercial demands of Plath's posthumous fame, Ted Hughes appointed his sister Olwyn as the chief literary executor and agent for the Sylvia Plath Estate. From the late 1960s until she stepped down in 1991, Olwyn wielded absolute, uncompromising power over Plath's work. She fiercely censored biographers, withheld vital quotation permissions from scholars who painted Ted in a negative light, and aggressively dictated the narrative of Plath’s life to protect her brother's reputation.
Description
Salmon canvas boards with silver lettering to spine. Original dust wrapper. Tear to wrapper obstructing the letter ‘s,’ and marking in blue ink to cover as well. Smoke damage to cover and preliminary page (Olwyn Hughes was a heavy smoker). Blue ink inscription of Olwyn Hughes to preliminary flyleaf that has been partially torn. Contents page is heavily marked by Olwyn Hughes and other subsequent pages are re-paginated and feature brief notes in the hand of Olwyn Hughes.
The Colossus