Spotlight: A Day in June
Today I was searching the collection for something to post about and ended up looking at what we held by Sylvia Plath, thinking of the rich descriptions of summer scenes I’d read recently in her unabridged journals. Much to my delight, I found A Day in June, an uncollected short story from 1952 by Plath whose descriptions of a bright June day seemed to fit with what I’m seeing outside our windows today.
Published in 1981 by Embers Handpress in an edition of 160 numbered copies, the text is hand set in Monotype Garamond and printed on handmade Barcham Green ‘Hayle’ papers. It was printed at The Fish Inn in Sutton Gault, Ely, England. The cover paper was handmade in the Auvergne by Richard de Bas.
The description of a June day reads:
“It’s one of those perfect days in June you try to describe but never quite can. Take the smell of fresh washed linen; of sweet grass drying after a rain; take the checkered twinkle of sunlight in a meadow; the taste of mint leaves cool on the tongue; the clear-cut brightness of tulips in a garden; green shadows, thinning to yellow, thickening to blue... the dazzle... the hot touch of sun on your skin... blinding arrows of sunlight glancing off the deep glassed blue of the water... the exhilaration... bubbles rising, bursting... the gliding motion... the liquid singing of water past the bow... shifting specks of color dancing: all this to love, to cherish. Never again such a day!!”
I hope you can get out and enjoy this perfect June day—maybe go down by the lake and put your toes in the cool water with the sand beneath your feet, or rent a swan boat on the lagoon at Veteran’s Park.
-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager
