The Archive of Ted Hughes (1930-98)

Item date: 20th century
Grant Value: £20,000 (Philip Larkin Fund)
Item cost: £500,000
Item cost pre-decimal: NULL
Item date acquired: 2008
Item institution: British Library
Town/City: London

A previously unknown archive of the late Poet Laureate, comprising over 200 files and boxes of manuscripts, letters and diaries, including material relating to Birthday Letters, published in 1998, Hughes's collection of poems about his relationship with his first wife, Sylvia Plath. There is also a large correspondence with contemporary literary figures, including Seamus Heaney, Kathleen Raine, Andrew Motion, Thom Gunn and Tom Paulin

Item Provenance
Ted Hughes; Carol Hughes