Showing 9 results

Archival description
Thomas, David John, 1876-1952.
Print preview View:

Dylan Thomas letters

  • NLW MS 24037D
  • File
  • [1936]-1950

A collection of six letters, [1936]-1950, from Dylan Thomas, comprising one letter to Caitlin Thomas, [6 September 1945], mainly concerning money, work and their living arrangements (f. 3), and three letters to his parents, D.J. and Florence Thomas, sent from Oxford, 12 January 1947 (ff. 4-9), from Florence, Italy (but giving as his address that of the family's next destination on Elba), 19 July 1947 (ff. 10-12), and from New York, 26 February 1950 (f. 13); together with typescript copies, possibly by Thomas, of two letters from him, dated 9 March 1936 and 13 July 1938, to Wyn Henderson (the presumed original letters are in the University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Library) (ff. 1-2).
All the letters appear in Dylan Thomas, The Collected Letters: New Edition, ed. by Paul Ferris (London, 2000).

Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953

Dylan Thomas family letters

  • NLW MS 23932D.
  • File
  • 1951-1953

Three letters, 1951-1953, from Dylan Thomas and his parents to Dylan's cousin, Mai Griffiths of Cross Hands.
They consist of: a letter from Dylan, 16 December 1952, informing Mai of the death of his father that day (ff. 3-4; apparently unpublished); a letter from his father David John (Jack), 28 June 1951, sympathising with Mai on the recent loss of her husband and giving family news (ff. 1-2); and a letter from his mother Florence (Florrie), 4 May [1953], on the recent death of Florence's daughter Nancy (ff. 5-6).

Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953

Notes for his father's 'Elegy'

  • NLW MS 23992E.
  • File
  • 1953

One page of untitled holograph notes by Dylan Thomas, 1953, written whilst composing his last poem, the unfinished 'Elegy' to his father, David John (D.J.) Thomas, who died on 16 December 1952.
The work first appeared in print, as a 'previously unpublished poem', in Encounter, 6/2 (February 1956), and was included by Vernon Watkins as an appendix to the Collected Poems after 1956. For a copy of the poem as completed by Vernon Watkins, see NLW MS 22552E.

Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953

Elegy,

One page of lined paper containing early untitled ink drafts, [1953], including words, phrases, and a list of possible verse forms, (recto side only), written by Dylan Thomas whilst composing the unfinished poem 'Elegy' to his father, D. J. Thomas. The work was first published in Encounter, 6/2 (February, 1956).

Caitlin Thomas memoir

A handwritten fragment of a memoir, [?1957], by Caitlin Thomas, entitled 'Finito (the Cuckoo) the Second Chapter'.
The manuscript contains descriptions of her visit to Ireland in May 1955, and recollections of her father, Francis Macnamara, her father-in-law, David John Thomas, and her father's friend 'Cuckoo' O'Brien (pp. 1-11), as well as a few notes and word lists (pp. 13-14). Extracts from the manuscript were published in Paul Ferris, Caitlin: The life of Caitlin Thomas (London, 1995), pp. 48, 49-50, 64-65, 168; Ferris (p. 49) suggests it was intended as part of Thomas' book Leftover Life to Kill (London, 1957).

Thomas, Caitlin

D. J. Thomas,

Holograph letter of congratulation, 1935, from Dylan Thomas's father, D[avid] J[ohn] Thomas, to Daniel Jones, possibly after the latter was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship.

The Era,

Manuscript, (11 pp.), of the first and only issue of 'The Era: a literary journal issued six times a year', vol. I, (January and February, [c. 1928]). An additional contents list is inserted between the folded second and third pages. Most is written in the hand of Daniel Jones; the signature of his co-editor, Dylan Thomas, appears four times. The Foreword by Jenkyn D. Jones, is signed by him; D. J. Thomas is also listed amongst the contributors. Dylan Thomas refers to his father and sister, Nancy, in his Editor's Notes.

D. J. and Florence Thomas,

Holograph letter, dated 31 December 1941, by Dylan Thomas to his parents D. J. and Florence Thomas, written in black ink on lined paper (ff. 1r-3r) and sent from Chiswick, thanking them for the Christmas presents; writing from London, he refers to the time spent in Oxford with Alan and Margaret Taylor over the Christmas holiday, the urgency to find somewhere for Caitlin and Llewelyn to stay near the capital, his recent work on short information films and a radio script, a visit from Vernon Watkins, and a poem published in Lilliput. The envelope is postmarked January 1942.

Bob Rees,

Undated holograph letter, [January 1939], (2 ff.), by Dylan Thomas to his former school friend Bob [Rees], written in black ink and sent from Blashford, in which he refers to a visit to Swansea, discusses his work, the proposed publication of a volume of poetry and prose, 'In the direction of the beginning', and the influence of Gerard Manley Hopkins on his writing. Also included are two typescript letters, the first being a photocopy, dated 1993 and 1995, from Bob Rees to Jeff Towns, containing reminiscences about DT and his father, D. J. Thomas.