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Thirteen letters, 1957-1967 from Vernon Watkins to his wife, his mother and his sister, reflecting the poet's family and public life (ff. 1-25). Also included are 30 letters of the same nature, 1938-1967, addressed to Vernon Watkins from various correspondents, including poet Charles Causley, 1962-1967 (ff. 26-32), lifelong friend Eric V. Falk, [1938]-1963 (ff. 35-47), and wife, Gwen, 1945-1947 (ff. 59-66). The correspondence includes a photograph of Vernon, Gwen and Rhiannon Watkins, [1945] (f. 65).
The file also includes 34 letters and cards, 1965 and 1967-2004, addressed to Gwen Watkins from various correspondents, including Roy Fuller, 1976 (f. 74), Michael Hamburger, 1972-2004 (ff. 75-78), John Heath-Stubbs, 1998 (f. 79), Andrew Motion, 1987 (f. 81), Leslie Norris, 1974-1980 (ff. 82-86), Peter Redgrove, 1977 (f. 88), and David Wright, 1971-1988 (ff. 101-106). Most of these letters relate to Vernon Watkins's poetry.

Forty-five letters and cards, 1948-1967 (mostly 1964-1967), from Vernon Watkins to his mother, Sarah Watkins, 1962-1967 (ff. 1-71), and to his sisters, Marjorie Watkins, 1964 (ff. 72-73), and Dorothy Watkins, 1948-1967 (ff. 74-94 verso), containing mainly personal and family news.

One hundred and seven letters, 1937-1940 and 1944-1967, from Vernon Watkins, mainly at Pennard and Swansea, to his friend and occasional translator, Francis Dufau-Labeyrie, containing personal and family news, and discussing his poetry and other literary output, his and Francis's poetry translations and other poets and their work, notably their mutual friend Dylan Thomas and W. B. Yeats (ff. 1-9, 13-40, 43-121, 125-133, 137-148, 151-158, 161-164, 166-196, 199-211).
Also included are typescript transcripts, [?1970s], of eight of the letters (ff. 10-12, 41-42, 122-124, 134-136, 149-150, 159-160, 165, 197-198, inserted after the originals). The letters occasionally contain poetry by Watkins, including parts of 'After Sunset' (f. 15), an attempt at a poem about Francis (f. 32 verso, in French), the first two verses of 'the Wine Ballad' ['Ballad of the Two Tapsters'] (f. 38), a limerick [?by VW] (f. 40), a verse (f. 46), a verse from 'the Broken Net ballad' ['Ballad of Dundrum Bay'] (f. 50 verso), the end of 'Portrait of a Friend' (f. 75 verso) and the sonnet 'The Conception' (f. 147); there are also transcripts of poems by Yeats (ff. 68, 88 verso, 109 verso) and other miscellaneous poems in English (ff. 46, 76 verso, 119 verso, 190) and French (ff. 17, 82 verso, 86, 128). A few rough ink sketches are on ff. 2, 19, 46, 103, 109 verso, 117 verso. The letters contain annotations and markings in the hand of Francis Dufau-Labeyrie, including attempts at dating and ordering. The letters were mostly sent to Francis while he was living in Bristol, 1937-1938, Beckenham, 1938-1939, Paris, 1939-1947, and thereafter Montreal, Quebec, the later correspondence being mostly by air letter. For extracts from sixteen of the letters, 1937-1946, see 'Vernon Watkins: Selected quotations from his letters to Francis Dufau-Labeyrie', Temenos, 8 (1987), 146-155.

Some fourteen letters, 1923-1950 (mostly 1923-1924), from Vernon Watkins to his schoolfriend, Eric V. Falk, chiefly concerned with life at Repton School and the poet's unhappiness after leaving, including two apparently unpublished poems (ff. 14-15); together with two further letters to Falk, 1923, one being from Graham B. Smith, history master at Repton, the 'Mr Holmes' of Christopher Isherwood's Lions and Shadows (London, 1938).