Anne Sexton. First edition, stated first printing. Inscribed copy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960. Both unclipped dust jacket (in a mylar wrapper) and hardcover are in Very Good condition. First issue dust jacket with original price of $3.00 on front flap. Jacket has chipping on the edges and a small piece missing on top/bottom of spine. Other than author inscription, no writing or markings found in the book, 67 pp. Jacket photo by John Brook. Dust jacket design by Ellen Raskin.
Anne Sexton's debut collection, a landmark of confessional poetry, in a signed and inscribed first edition, stated first printing. Inscribed copies of this book are scarce.
To Bedlam and Part Way Back introduced Sexton as a leading voice of the confessional movement alongside Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath, who like Sexton were also from Boston. It was nominated for the National Book Award in 1960.
A strong addition for collectors of American poetry, confessional poets, women writers, and 20th-century first editions. Ships securely packed and insured.
“Sexton suffered from severe depression for the majority of her adult life. “Several attempts at suicide led to intermittent institutionalization… Sexton’s therapist encouraged her to write. In 1957 Sexton joined several Boston writing groups, and she came to know such writers as Maxine Kumin, Robert Lowell, George Starbuck, and Sylvia Plath. Her poetry became central to her life, and she mastered formal techniques that gained her wide attention. In 1960 To Bedlam and Part Way Back was published to good reviews. Such poems as “You, Doctor Martin,” “The Bells,” and “The Double Image” were often anthologized.”
