The Bell Jar

A witty and melancholic portrayal of 1950s New York set against the backdrop of mental illness, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar is newly introduced by Plath biographer and scholar, Heather Clark, and features seven ethereal illustrations by Alexandra Levasseur. Achingly sad, darkly humorous and engaging, The Bell Jar is a beautifully written coming-of-age novel. This startling new edition celebrates its literary status and timeless subject matter. Plath biographer Heather Clark has written a fascinating new introduction exploring the author’s life, and the edition is sensitively illustrated by painter and sculptor Alexandra Levasseur. The Bell Jar brought mental health and the feminist agenda to the fore through the frustrated eyes of an aspiring writer trying to be taken seriously in misogynistic 1950s America. When exploring Esther’s spiralling descent into breakdown, Plath’s quick wit and wry observations were viewed by some critics as flippant, and the novel courted controversy for its supposed glamourisation of mental illness. As a mirror of the author’s life, it is a raw and real insight into a journey that is not exclusively harrowing and painful; there is hope and happiness too.

The Bell Jar is a searing portrait of a young woman's struggle for identity and the world that closes around her. Sylvia Plath's only novel chronicles the slow unraveling of Esther Greenwood, a brilliant college student facing a profound identity crisis while coming of age in 1950s America. As she navigates the pressures of society and her own ambitions, Esther earns a coveted summer position at a prestigious New York City magazine, only to find herself struggling with the looming expectations of marriage, motherhood, and the potential sacrifice of her dreams. As she grows increasingly disillusioned with the life laid out for her, her mental health deteriorates, leading to hospitalization and psychiatric treatment. First published in the United Kingdom under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas in 1963, the novel is considered to be in part autobiographical, mirroring the author's own descent into mental illness. Plath died by suicide a month after the novel's UK publication. Scholars suggest the author began writing the novel in the spring of 1961 and may have finished in August of the same year, though subsequent changes were made throughout the editing process. Plath applied for the Eugene F. Saxton Fellowship, affiliated with publisher Harper & Row, and was awarded the grant late in 1961. It required her to submit the finished manuscript to the Saxton committee; the editors who read it found the novel "disappointing, juvenile and overwrought," and the book was turned down. Early working titles included Diary of a Suicide and The Girl in the Mirror. When it was published in the United States eight years later, The Bell Jar became an instant success. Deeply intimate and universally resonant, the novel remains one of the twentieth century’s most powerful literary achievements. The Numbered Edition of The Bell Jar is limited to 250 copies. It features a 5½" x 8¼" trim size and 304 pages. The book is signed by Peter K. Steinberg, Harriet Lee-Merrion, and Sonja Ahlers. It utilizes a millimeter-style binding, fully bound in cloth with printed-paper sides carrying a different illustration by the artist on the front and back, with the cloth left exposed along the fore edge. It includes a letterpress-printed paper label on the spine of the book and the clamshell. The title page and chapter openings are printed in a second color, requiring an additional pass through the press. The text is printed letterpress on Mohawk Via Laid. The book is housed in a clamshell enclosure, with endsheets made of Takeo Tant Select, a Japanese paper with a subtle double-sided emboss. It features handmade cloth endbands and includes a new afterword by Peter K. Steinberg. A letterpress-printed bookmark is included. Illustrations are by Harriet Lee-Merrion and calligraphy is by Sonja Ahlers. Published editions may differ slightly from mockups and prototype designs.

A searing portrait of a young woman's struggle for identity and of the world that closes around her, The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel. The story chronicles the slow unraveling of Esther Greenwood, a brilliant college student facing a profound identity crisis while coming of age in 1950s America, as she navigates the pressures of society along with her own ambitions. After earning a coveted summer position at a prestigious New York City magazine, Esther finds herself struggling with the looming expectations of marriage, motherhood, and giving up on her dreams to achieve them. As she grows increasingly disillusioned with the life laid out for her, her mental health deteriorates, ultimately leading to hospitalization and psychiatric treatment. First published in the United Kingdom under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas in 1963, The Bell Jar is considered to be in part autobiographical, mirroring the author's own descent into mental illness. Plath died by suicide a month after the novel's UK publication. Scholars suggest the author began writing the novel in the spring of 1961 after publishing her first collection of poetry, and may have finished in August of the same year, though subsequent changes were made throughout the editing process. Plath had applied for the Eugene F. Saxton Fellowship, affiliated with publisher Harper & Row, and was awarded the grant late in 1961. It required her to submit the finished manuscript to the Saxton committee; the editors who read it found the novel disappointing, juvenile and overwrought, and the book was turned down. Early working titles included Diary of a Suicide and The Girl in the Mirror. When it was published in the United States eight years later, The Bell Jar became an instant success. Deeply intimate and universally resonant, The Bell Jar remains one of the twentieth century’s most powerful literary achievements. The limited edition of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is presented in three states: Numbered Edition, Lettered Edition and Designer's Edition. The Lettered Edition has a 5½" x 8¼" trim size and 304 pages. It is limited to 26 copies and is signed by Peter K. Steinberg, Harriet Lee-Merrion, and Sonja Ahlers. The book features a full goatskin binding with leather onlays sourced from Harmatan and Oakridge, hand-finished by traditional methods, and a foil-blocked cover. It is printed letterpress on mouldmade Arches paper. The title page and chapter openings are printed in a second color, requiring an additional pass through the press. The endsheets are Hahnemühle Bugra, and the book includes hand-sewn endbands in two colors of thread. It is housed in a clamshell enclosure covered in cloth printed with a design from one of the book's illustrations, with a letterpress-printed paper label on the spine. The edition includes a fold-out of the Numbered edition cover art and a new afterword by Peter K. Steinberg. It is bound by hand by Lorna McCurdy in Berkshire, United Kingdom. A letterpress printed bookmark is included with all pre-orders. Published editions may differ slightly from mockups and prototype designs. Illustrations are by Harriet Lee-Merrion and calligraphy is by Sonja Ahlers.