Books

Handsomely bound in gleaming quarter black cloth spine stamped brightly in silver; and gray paper-covered boards. A near-fine copy with the merest touch of rubbing to the spine ends.Very clean and tight throughout. Inscribed in blue ink on the half title page: "For Hawk with my best wishes Anne Sexton 1963 (underlined)."In a very handsome dust jacket designed by Ellen Raskin featuring a drawing of mother and child and a laudatory blurb from Robert Lowell on the front panel; with a striking black and white photograph of Sexton on the rear panel and the original price of $3.75 at the top of the inside front flap. A lovely, collector's copy signed and dated. Anne Sexton (November 9, 1928, Newton, Massachusetts October 4, 1974, Weston, Massachusetts) was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967. Themes of her poetry include her suicidal tendencies, long battle against depression and various intimate details from her private life, including her relationships with her husband and children. Much has been made of the tangled threads of her writing, her life and her depression, much in the same way as with Sylvia Plath's suicide in 1963. John Berryman, Robert Lowell, Adrienne Rich and Denise Levertov commented in separate obituaries on the role of creativity in Sexton's death. Levertov says, "We who are alive must make clear, as she could not, the distinction between creativity and self-destruction." (Wikipedia) First Edition with matching dates of 1960 on the title and copyright pages; and with "First Printing" at the top of the copyright page.

Anne Sexton's debut poetry collection, reflecting on her struggles with mental illness and her stay in a psychiatric hospital. This book is considered a significant work of confessional poetry.