May Sarton, 1912-1995: A Selected Bibliography.

At her death, May Sarton had written 53 books: 19 novels, 17 books of poetry, 15 nonfiction works including her acclaimed journals, 2 children's books, a play, and some screenplays. I've tried to list first editions here, whenever possible, or at least to give the copyright date if I couldn't find a complete reference to the first edition. Many newer editions of her works are also in print. I have sometimes listed multiple editions if the illustrations or supporting materials are different. For a comprehensive bibliography describing works by and about Sarton, see May Sarton: A Bibliography. (Annotated) by Lenora P. Blouin. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1978.

May Sarton wished that upon her death a fund would be established from the residue of her estate to provide scholarships for poets and historians of science. (Her father was a historian of science at Harvard.) The Sarton Fund has been established and is held under the auspices of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which May Sarton was a member. The Sarton Estate recorded May Sarton's memorial service, which may be ordered for a small sum that includes a donation to the fund.

To contact the Sarton Fund, write to:
Sarton Fund, c/o The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Norton's Woods, 136 Irving St., Cambridge, MA 02138.

Selected Bibliography

Novels

• Anger: a novel. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1982.
• As we are now; a novel. [1st ed.] New York, Norton c1973.
• The birth of a grandfather. New York: Norton, 1989, c1957.
• The bridge of years; a novel. [1st ed.] Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, inc., c1946.
• Crucial conversations: a novel. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1975.
• The education of Harriet Hatfield: a novel. [1st ed.] New York: W.W. Norton, c1989.
• Faithful are the wounds. New York: Rinehart & Company, Inc., [1955]
• The fur person. Illus. by David Canright. New York: Norton, c1978.
• The fur person. Illus. by Barbara Knox. New York, Rinehart, c1957.
• Joanna and Ulysses: a tale. ; illustrations by James J. Spanfeller. New York: Norton, c1963.
• Kinds of love; a novel. [1st ed.] New York, Norton c1970.
• The magnificent spinster: a novel. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1985.
• Miss Pickthorn and Mr. Hare; a fable. [1st ed.] New York, Norton, c1966.
• Mrs. Stevens hears the mermaids singing; a novel. [1st ed.] New York, W.W. Norton, c1965.
• Mrs. Stevens hears the mermaids singing; a novel. Introd. by Carolyn G. Heilbrun. New York, Norton [1974, c1965]
• The poet and the donkey. Illus. by Stefan Martin. [1st ed.] New York, W. W. Norton. c1969.
• A reckoning: a novel. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1978.
• Shadow of a man. New York: Rinehart, 1950.
• A shower of summer days. New York, Norton [1970, c1952]
• The single hound. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, c1938.
• The Small room: a novel. New York: Norton, c1961.

Poetry

• As does New Hampshire, and other poems. Peterborough, N.H., R. R. Smith, 1967.
• Catching Beauty: The Earliest Poems. edited by Susan Sherman. Orono, Maine: Puckerbrush Press, 2002.
• Cloud, stone, sun, vine; poems, selected and new. New York, W. W. Norton, c1961.
• Collected poems (1930-1973). [1st ed.] New York, Norton, c1974.
• Collected poems, 1930-1993. New York: W.W. Norton, c1993.
• Coming into eighty: new poems. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1994.
• A durable fire; new poems. [1st ed.] New York, Norton, c1972.
• Encounter in April. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1937.
• A grain of mustard seed; new poems. [1st ed.] New York, Norton, c1971.
• Halfway to silence: new poems. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1980.
• In time like air; poems. New York, Rinehart, 1958.
• Inner landscape. Inner landscape; poems, by May Sarton. Printed in England first by Cresset Press, London, 1939 and then in Boston by Houghton Mifflin with a slightly different arrangement.
• The land of silence, and other poems. New York, Rinehart, 1953.
• The leaves of the tree: poems. Cornell college chapbooks, no. 22. Mount Vernon, Iowa, The English Club of Cornell College, c1950.
• Letters from Maine: new poems. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1984.
• The lion and the rose: poems. New York: Rinehart & Company, Inc., 1948.
• A private mythology; new poems. [1st ed.] New York, Norton, c1966.
• Selected poems of May Sarton. edited and with an introd. by Serena Sue Hilsinger and Lois Brynes. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1978.
• The silence now: new and uncollected earlier poems. [1st ed.] New York: W.W. Norton, c1988.

Special Editions

• Coming into eighty: new poems. Concord, NH: William B. Ewert, 1992. [20 pages] -- "This edition, designed by John Kristensen, was printed letterpress from Fairfield type on Mohawk Superfine paper and bound at Firefly Press, Somerville, Massachusetts, for release on May 3, 1992, May Sarton's eightieth birthday. It is limited to 126 copies signed by the author."
• Now I Become Myself. Burlington, Vermont: Rumble Press, 1992.
• The Phoenix Again. Concord, New Hampshire: William B. Ewert Publisher, 1987.
• To Bid Us Still Rejoice. New York: Katonah Publishing, 1998 -- previously unpublished poems compiled by Susan Sherman in memory for Sarton's 86th birthday; limited edition.
• A Winter Garland: New Poems. Concord, New Hampshire: William B. Ewert Publisher, 1982.

Broadsides

Sarton published a number of special editions of volumes of poetry and what are called single poem "broadsides" through Bill Ewert as well as earlier, self-published editions. The broadsides started out in the early 1940s as "Christmas Poems" which Sarton wrote and sent to friends. She would have them specially printed, sometimes with illustrations. When her mailing list grew too large in the 1960s she stopped sending them and didn't start again until the 1980s when approached by William Ewert. There are about fifty poems, many written for Christmas, also for New Years and other celebrations.

Journals

• After the stroke: a journal. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1988.
• At Fifteen: A Journal. edited by Susan Sherman. Orono, Maine: Puckerbrush Press, 2002.
• At eighty-two: a journal. [1st ed.] New York: W.W. Norton, c1996.
• At seventy: a journal. [1st ed.] New York: W.W. Norton, c1984.
• Encore: a journal of the eightieth year. [1st ed.] New York: W.W. Norton & Co., c1993.
• Endgame: a journal of the seventy-ninth year. [1st ed.] New York: W.W. Norton, c1992.
• The house by the sea: a journal. photos by Beverly Hallam. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1977.
• Journal of a solitude. [1st ed.] New York, Norton, c1973.
• Recovering: a journal. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1980.

Memoirs

• I knew a phoenix; sketches for an autobiography. New York, W. W. Norton [1969, c1959]
• Plant dreaming deep. [1st ed.] New York, W. W. Norton. c1968.
• A world of light: portraits and celebrations. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1976.

Children's Books

• Punch's secret. Pictures by Howard Knotts. [1st ed.] New York, Harper & Row, c1974.
• A walk through the woods. Pictures by Kazue Mizumura. [1st ed.] New York: Harper & Row, c1976.

Plays

• "The Music Box Bird." Never published, but written about 1962. Produced by Erika Pfander at the Chamber Theatre of Maine in Thomaston, Maine, 1993.
• The underground river, a play in three acts. New York, N.Y., The Play club, inc., c1947.

Essays, Collections, Correspondence, Interviews:

• Conversations with May Sarton. edited by Earl G. Ingersoll. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, c1991.
• Dear Juliette: Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley. edited by Susan Sherman. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. Foreword by Francis Huxley, one of the sons of Juliette and Julian Huxley.
• From May Sarton's well: writings of May Sarton. selection and photographs by Edith Royce Schade. [1st ed.] Watsonville, Calif.: Papier-Mache Press, c1994.
• Honey in the hive: Judith Matlack, 1898-1982. Boston: Warren Pub., 1988. -- Writings by Judith Matlack, with commentary by May Sarton.
• May Sarton: a self-portrait. edited by Marita Simpson and Martha Wheelock. [1st ed.] New York: W.W. Norton, 1986, c1982.
• May Sarton: among the usual days: a portrait: unpublished poems, letters, journals, and photographs. selected and edited by Susan Sherman; preface by May Sarton. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1993.
• Sarton selected: an anthology of the journals, novels, and poems of May Sarton. edited, with an introduction and notes, by Bradford Dudley Daziel. [1st ed.] New York: Norton, c1991.
• Selected letters / May Sarton, 1916-1954. edited and introduced by Susan Sherman. New York: Norton, 1997.
• Selected letters / May Sarton, 1955-1995. edited by Susan Sherman. New York: Norton, 2002.
• Writings on writing. by May Sarton. Orono, Me.: Puckerbrush Press, 1980.

Audio and Video Recordings

• May Sarton: excerpts from a life; journals & memoirs.[sound recording] performed by Andrea Itkin. Belfast, Maine: Audio Bookshelf, c1994.
• May Sarton: A Live Reading. [documentary film] by Marita Simpson and Martha Wheelock, Directors. New York: Ishtar Films, 1988: 25 minutes -- May Sarton's 1987 Poetry Reading in Los Angeles. Sarton reads her new poems and old favorites and talks openly about herself.
• World of Light: A Portrait of May Sarton. [documentary film] by Marita Simpson and Martha Wheelock, Directors. New York: Ishtar Films, 1979: 30 minutes -- Interviews with and readings from the works of 70-year-old author May Sarton.
• May Sarton: Writing in the Upward Years. [documentary film] by Stephen Robitaille and Bill Suchy, Directors. Chicago: Terra Nova Films, 1991: 30 minutes -- This film explores the aging process through May Sarton's work. The famous poet reads selections in which she has "charted the waters" of her own aging.
• May Sarton: Old Age is a Foreign Country. [documentary film] by Kate Nelligan, Producer and Editor. Charlotte Paolini, Interviewer. Biddeford, Maine: University of New England, 1996: 20 minutes -- Sarton speaks with stark honesty about her life and her impending mortality, railing against the frailties of old age, while acknowledging a new gentleness.
• Signs of Love: Honoring the Final Voyage. [documentary film] by Kate Nelligan, Producer and Editor. Charlotte Paolini, Interviewer. Biddeford, Maine: University of New England, 1997: ? minutes -- an interview with Susan Sherman, editor of the Sarton letters and unpublished poetry, honoring Sarton's "final voyage".

Other Works About May Sarton:

• A House of gathering: poets on May Sarton's poetry. edited and with an introduction by Marilyn Kallet. [1st ed.] Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, c1993. -- Essays written in honor of Sarton's eightieth birthday.
• A celebration for May Sarton: essays and speeches from the National Conference "May Sarton at 80: a celebration of her life and work. Westbrook College Portland, Maine June 11-13, 1992. selected and edited by Constance Hunting. Orono, ME: Puckerbrush Press, 1994.
• May Sarton: A Bibliography. (Annotated) by Lenora P. Blouin. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1978. [First edition]
• May Sarton: A Bibliography. (Annotated) by Lenora P. Blouin. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2000. [Second edition]
• May Sarton: A Bibliography, 2nd Edition. (Annotated) by Lenora P. Blouin. Scarecrow Author Bibliography Series # 104. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2000.
• May Sarton Revisited. by Elizabeth Evans. Twayne's United States Author Series #551 Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1989.
• May Sarton, woman and poet. edited by Constance Hunting. [1st ed.] Orono, ME.: National Poetry Foundation: University of Maine at Orono, 1982. -- Includes articles by Carolyn Heilbrun, Jane Bakerman, Henry Taylor, and others, as well as an updated bibliography of Sarton's works (1979-1981) by Lenora P. Blouin.
• That Great Sanity: critical essays on May Sarton. edited by Susan Swartzlander and Marilyn Mumford. [1st ed.] Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. -- Includes "A Decade of Creativity and Critical Reception: A May Sarton Bibliography." by Nancy S. Weyant, also essays by William Drake, Mary K. DeShazer, and others.
• "The Stern Growth of a Lyric Poet," by Lenora P. Blouin. Bulletin of Bibliography. 57:4 (December, 2000): 191-206.
• World of light: a portrait of May Sarton, with additional poems and comments. [1st ed.] New York City, N.Y.: Two Lip Art, c1982. -- Includes transcript of the film: World of light.

Photograph provided by Susan Sherman;
Prepared for on-line use by Chris Thompson.