8vo. xlvi, 748pp [4]. Original publisher's yellow card wraps lettered in blue. Lightly scuffed, with some smoke damage/odour. The smoke damage is the result of an errant cigarette dropped by Olwyn down the back of her sofa, which caused a serious fire. Inscribed by translator Michael Hamburger on the half title 'For Olwyn in old friendship Michael Hamburger 19/3/94'. From the estate of Olwyn Hughes, recently dispersed.

Michael Hamburger (1924-2007) was a noted German-British translator, writer, literary critic and academic. Born in Berlin, his family resettled in the UK in 1933. Holding a multitude of academic appointments on both sides of the Atlantic throughout his career, Hamburger was awarded numerous accolades including the Johann Heinrich Voß Prize in Translation, the Aristeion Prize, the Petrarca-Preis, and an Order of the British Empire in 1992.

Olwyn Hughes (1928-2016) was a translator, agent and literary executor who had worked in Paris for NATO, Martonplay, and King Peter II of Yugoslavia, among others. After the death of her sister-in-law Sylvia Plath, she returned to England to assist her brother, Ted Hughes, raise his young children, though also took over the management of both his career and Plath's literary estate. While she did have some other clients as a literary agent, including Jean Rhys, much of the rest of her life was dedicated to preserving - and defending - both Plath and Hughes.