Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1934-1988 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
241 ff.
Guarded and filed at NLW.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Writer and artist Brenda Chamberlain (1912-1971) was born and raised in Bangor, Caernarfonshire, and educated privately before embarking on her art studies at the Royal Academy, London in 1931. In 1935 Chamberlain married the artist John Petts. The following year the couple moved to Llanllechid, where they set up the Caseg Press, producing postcards and bookplates, and also the Caseg Broadsheets - featuring poetry by Chamberlain and others - with the poet and writer Alun Lewis. Chamberlain's marriage to Petts ended in 1946. Thereafter she lived briefly in Germany before settling on Bardsey Island, where she wrote and painted until, in 1961, she moved to the Greek island of Idhra. In 1967 Chamberlain returned to Bangor, where she died in 1971. Amongst Chamberlain's major published works are the poetic anthology The Green Heart (London, 1958) (dedicated to Karl von Laer), Tide-Race (London, 1962), an account of her life on Bardsey, her only novel The Water Castle (London, 1964), A Rope of Vines (London, 1965), chronicling her time on Ydra, Poems With Drawings (London, 1969), and Alun Lewis and the Making of the Caseg Broadsheets (London, 1969).
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Over eighty letters and cards, 1934-1968, to John Petts from his first wife, the artist and writer Brenda Chamberlain (1912-71), together with related correspondence, 1941-1988, concerning their relationship, including reminiscences of her, 1988, by their friend Elizabeth Jones. Also included are sketches, trial pulls of prints, and a proof copy of a booklet of hand-coloured prints all by Brenda Chamberlain, mainly produced whilst running the Caseg Press, Llanllechid, in partnership with John Petts.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
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Conditions of access and use area
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Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23207F.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Caseg Press. (Subject)
- Jones, Elizabeth, fl. 1988. (Subject)
- Chamberlain, Brenda -- Correspondence (Subject)