Sylvia Plath’s Personal Items, Including Love Letters to Husband and Wedding Rings, to Be Sold at Auction

Love letters from a literary legend are up for grabs. Belongings of author and poet Sylvia Plath are going up for auction at Sotheby’s in London. 

And they include letters she wrote to her husband, fellow poet Ted Hughes.

“These are such unique items that it is very hard to predict how the bidding will go, and we think that there will be very strong interest and we'll be very interested to see what the result is," Dr. Gabriel Heaton from Sotheby’s said.

He added, “There are very few writers maybe where the life and the work are quite so entwined as they are with her and everyone knows the story of her life, and it's almost impossible to read her poetry without kind of reference to that."

The 50 lots being auctioned, including the couple’s wedding rings and tarot cards that Hughes gifted his wife, were provided by their daughter, Frieda Hughes. 

The couple separated in 1962, and Plath, who had mental illness, plunged into a deep depression. It was during this time she wrote her novel, The Bell Jar. She took her own life in 1963 at 30 years old.

Plath’s work only became more popular after her death, and she was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for her poetry. 

Those who still cherish her work and her story may also cherish some of her most personal possessions — if they can afford them.  

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