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Exercise book containing untitled draft poems, [c. 1941], by Vernon Watkins, all apparently unpublished, together with 'Carol', a verse translation from French, published in Selected Verse Translation (1977).

Some ninety-eight letters, 1939-1976, to Vernon Watkins, with a few addressed to Mrs Gwen Watkins, from various correspondents (surnames H-O), including Michael Hamburger (12, including two poems) 1949-1967, Alfred Janes (4) 1949-1967, Dr Daniel Jones (5) 1947-1970, Glyn Jones (1) 1945, Professor Gwyn Jones (3) 1939-1976, Ray Howard-Jones (1) 1966, and Roland Mathias (1) 1965.

Some ninety-three letters, 1939-1968, mostly to Vernon Watkins, with one to Dorothy Watkins, 1968, from various correspondents (surnames S-W), including Roberto Sanesi (3) 1957-1968, M. J. Tambimuttu (4) 1940-1964, and Grace Williams (12) 1965-1967, together with eight letters, 1950-1964, to various correspondents from Vernon Watkins, some being drafts or copies.

Twelve letters, 1949-1967, from Vernon Watkins to various correspondents, together with eleven letters, 1940-1941, to Watkins from J. R. Ackerley, chiefly concerned with the poet's work.

Typescript draft, [1940s], of Vernon Watkins's poem 'Yeats in Dublin' (ff. 1-7; see also NLW MS 21263E, ff. 46-58); a radio script, 1958, of Watkins's 'The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd', produced by Douglas Cleverdon and annotated by him (ff. 8-30); and personal and family correspondence, [c. 1946]-1988 (ff. 31-70).

Autograph and typescript drafts of translations and plays, [1940s]-[1967], by Vernon Watkins, including 'The Salzburg Great World Theatre', [1963], a typescript draft of a translation from the German of Hofmannsthal's play, 'Das Salzburger grosse Welttheater' (ff. 13-63).
It was published, with some revisions, as 'The Salzburg Great Theatre of the World' in Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Selected Plays and Libretti, ed. by Michael Hamburger (New York, 1963), pp. 79-172. Also included are translations from the German, most apparently unpublished, of poems by Rilke, [1948] (f. 2), Theodor Storm, 1962, 1966 (ff. 3-4), Friederich Hölderlin, [1960x1967] (ff. 5-9), and Eduard Mörike, [1960x1967] (f. 12), and a translation from the French of the first seven verses of François Villon's 'Le Petit Testament', [1960x1967] (ff. 10-11); drafts of parts of 'The Island' (ff. 64-75) and 'The Eclipse' (ff. 76-78), two proposed plays by Watkins, [1940x1967]; a verse 'Epilogue for a play', [1940x1967] (ff. 79-80); and 'A Book from Venice', 1948, a poem by Watkins (published in Botteghe Oscure, 2 (1948), 270-1) (f. 2 verso). The translation of Storm's 'Cats' (f. 3) was published in TLS, 9 March 1962, p. 162.

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1941-1966, by Vernon Watkins of verse translations from German and Italian poetry, published in Selected Verse Translations (1977), together with a few other draft translations published elsewhere.

Exercise book containing a single draft poem, 1941, by Vernon Watkins.

Typescript drafts, 1941-1963, of published works by Vernon Watkins, comprising two poems, 'Discoveries' (see The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd (1941)), and 'The Salmon' (see Uncollected Poems (1969)) (ff. 1-2); a prose translation of a play by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, 'The Salzburg Great World Theatre' (see Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Selected Plays and Libretti, ed. by Michael Hamburger (1963)) (ff. 3-49); and a foreword, 1963, to Kenneth Grahame, The Golden Age and Dream Days (1964) (ff. 50-57).

Exercise book, [?1941]-1967, of Vernon Watkins, containing bibliographical lists of his published prose (f. 3), of poems published in periodicals and anthologies (ff. 88 verso-96, 97 verso-98 verso) and of translations (ff. 96 verso-97).
The volume also contains transcripts, entitled 'Plotinus - on the Essence of the Soul' (ff. 36-40), of parts of the Fourth Ennead of Plotinus (see Plotinus, On the nature of the soul, being the fourth Ennead, trans. from the Greek by S. MacKenna (London, 1924), pp. 4-56 passim); and a transcript of the poem beginning 'The poet, Owen Hanrahan, under a bush of may' (f. 41) from 'Red Hanrahan's Curse' by Yeats (see W. B. Yeats, Stories of Red Hanrahan (Dundrum, Dublin, 1904 [recte 1905], pp. 36-38).

Autograph and typescript drafts, [c. 1944]-1967, of light verse, acrostics and poems for children by Vernon Watkins, composed 1925-1967 (ff. 1-85), together with drafts for published articles, lectures and radio talks, 1948-[1964] (f. 86-138).
Most of the verse (ff. 1, 3-28, 35-56, 58-68, 71-82) was published in Vernon Watkins, LMNTRE Poems (Swansea, 1999). The prose includes drafts of an article and radio script variously called 'The Place and the Poem', [?1949] (ff. 86-99), 'The Place and the Poem. Swansea' (ff. 100-101) and 'Swansea Poems', 1948 (ff. 102-107), a version of which was published as 'Swansea', Texas Quarterly, 4.4 (Winter 1961), 59-64; 'Poetry of the Second Phase', 1962 (ff. 111-114), partly published as 'The Second Phase in Poetry', Unicorn, 10 (Spring 1963), 9-10; and radio scripts, 'The Need of the Artist', 1962 (ff. 108-110), published in The Listener, 8 November 1962, pp. 756-757, and 'Problems of Communication', 1963 (ff. 115-122), published as 'The Joy of Creation', Listener, 30 April 1964, pp. 720-721.

Notebook containing draft poems, 1942, by Vernon Watkins, apparently mainly unpublished.

Autograph and typescript drafts, [1944]-[1954], of four poems by Vernon Watkins, published in The Lady with the Unicorn (London, 1948) (ff. 1-3) and The Death Bell (London, 1954) (ff. 4-7).
It includes a manuscript draft, [1944], of 'The Sardine-Fishers' (published as 'Sardine-Fishers at Daybreak') (ff. 2-3).

Some sixty-five letters, 1944-1967, to Vernon Watkins from various correspondents, who include Aneirin Talfan Davies (1) 1963, Winifred Ellerman (Bryher) (1) 1953, Constantine Fitzgibbon (7, copies of extracts) 1964-1965, Mervyn Levy (1) 1957, and Goronwy Rees (2) 1956; together with copies of three letters, 1965, from Vernon Watkins. Also included are typescript drafts, 1961-1967, by Vernon Watkins for various published and unpublished articles, mainly on aspects of literature, together with two calligraphic manuscripts by W. Emlyn Davies relating to Vernon Watkins.

Manuscript and typescript drafts by Vernon Watkins for poems published in Uncollected Poems (London, 1969).

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1946-1967, and photocopies of poems by Vernon Watkins chosen by Ruth Pryor and Gwen Watkins for inclusion in The Ballad of the Outer Dark (1979), together with draft introduction and notes by Ruth Pryor, and correspondence, 1976-1978, relating to publication.

Autograph and typescript notes and drafts, 1947-1967, for talks and lectures by Vernon Watkins on subjects including the translation of poetry, poetry in English, including his own, and the art of Ceri Richards.

Typescript drafts, 1947-1951, of verse translations by Vernon Watkins of Heinrich Heine's cycle 'Die Nordsee', published as Heinrich Heine, The North Sea (London: Faber and Faber, 1955).

Manuscript and typescript drafts by Vernon Watkins for poems published in Affinities (1962).

Notebook, [?1948]-1967, of Vernon Watkins, containing bibliographical lists of his poems published in Italy (inside front cover, f. 1) and poems and translations sent for publication in America (ff. 1 verso-11).