The Bell Jar. de Plath, Sylvia - 1971

New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1971. First edition of Sylvia Plath's only novel. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated with eight pen-and-ink drawings by Plath. Biographical note by Lois Ames. Near fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Amy Isbey Duevell. An exceptional example. The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under -- maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic. "In looking at the madness of the world and the world of madness [this book] forces us to consider the great question posed by all truly realistic fiction: what is reality and how can it be confronted"(New York Times Book Review). It was the basis for Larry Peerce's The Bell Jar (1979) starring Marilyn Hassett as Esther Greenwood, the protagonist and featured the tagline: "Sometimes just being a woman is an act of courage."