Manuscript and typescript drafts by Berta Ruck, [1955]-[1974x1978], of chapters of projected and published autobiographical works, mainly concerned with her life in Wales.
They include a manuscript draft of the first chapter of An Asset to Wales (London, 1970), [?1969] (ff. 1-24); drafts, mainly typescript, of various chapters for projected works entitled 'Welsh Harlequinade' and 'Fanfare for Wales', [1974x1978] (ff. 25-137); a typescript poem entitled 'Stair-case Remorse', [1970x1978] (f. 138); a typescript of various fragments of fiction and autobiographical prose, [1970x1978] (ff. 139-144); a cutting of an article by Ruck, 'A Golden Prince Came to the Castle', [1955] (f. 145); and a cut-out watercolour sketch of a young man (f. 146). There are references to N. C. Hunter (ff. 47-50), Stephen Peet, producer of the 1970 television documentary featuring Ruck (ff. 106-120), and to E. Nesbit (ff. 141-142).

Notebook of Berta Ruck, May 1930-March 1931, containing journal entries, including accounts of her visits to Sweden, July 1930 (ff. 14-22), Germany, July, November 1930 (ff. 22 verso-28 verso, 69 verso-81 verso), Vienna, Austria, July-August, November-December 1930 (ff. 28 verso-42 verso, 82-91), and the French Riviera, August-September 1930 (ff. 44-61), and notes for fiction. Some fifty-two letters, cards and telegrams from family and friends, photographs, cuttings, programmes and other ephemera have been pasted in.
The correspondents include Marda Vanne, June-[December] 1930 (ff. 4, 62, 91), Oliver Onions, July-[August] 1930 (ff. 13, 30, 53), Alec Waugh, 22 June 1930 (f. 38), Hermon Ould, 30 September 1930 (f. 65 verso), Vicki Baum, 4 November 1930 (f. 78), Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, [December] 1930 (f. 91), Norman Haire, [December] 1930 (f. 114 verso), Vita Sackville-West, 3 November 1930 (f. 121), and Cynthia Stockley, [December] 1930 (f. 129). The volume contains sketches and drawings (ff. 2 verso, 28 verso-29, 48-49, 87, 92 verso, 109, 123 verso) and poetry (ff. 67 verso, 73a-b, 88, 91-92 verso, 94 verso, 101 verso) by Ruck. The photographs include three of her with her sons (inside front cover, ff. 54, 60; the latter was published in A Story-Teller Tells the Truth (London, 1935), facing p. 166). Among the friends and acquaintances referred to in the volume are Ernst Hanfstaengl (79 verso, 80 verso-81 verso) and the writers Rebecca West (ff. 45 verso, 50 verso -51), Geoffrey Moss (ff. 49 verso-50, 54 verso, 57 verso), Vicky Baum (f. 71 verso) and Otto Friedländer (ff. 82 verso, 83, 84).

Notebook of Berta Ruck, March-June 1931, containing journal entries including an account of a visit to Oxford, 16 May 1931 (ff. 28 verso-30), and notes for fiction and other work. Twenty-nine letters, postcards and telegrams, mostly from family and friends, February-June 1931, [December 1935], cuttings, photographs and ephemera have been pasted in.
The correspondents include Oliver Onions, April-May 1931 (ff. 34, 36 verso, 52), Robin Darwin, 20 March 1931 (f. 2 verso), Marda Vanne, 25 May 1931 (f. 8 verso), Alec Waugh, April 1931 (ff. 16 verso-17, 30 verso), and Doris Langley Moore, 12 May 1931 (f. 28); there are also four copy letters from Ruck to her father and others, March-April 1931, [December 1935] (ff. 1 recto-verso, 4-5, 14-15 verso, 38a-b). The volume also contains ink sketches (ff. 27, 30, 42, 44) and verses (ff. 20 verso, 32-33, 36, 40 verso, 44, 46) by Ruck. There are references to Doris Langley Moore's forthcoming biography of E. Nesbit (London, 1933) (ff. 25 verso, 28) and to Gwen Ffrangcon Davies (f. 40 verso). Besides a single copy letter there is no material dating from 1935 onwards (as alluded to on the front cover), presumably having being excised.

Notebook of Berta Ruck, July-August 1931, containing journal entries and notes on her visit to Vienna and Carinthia, Austria. Four letters, March 1931-September 1932 (ff. 10 verso, 18, 28, inside back cover), photographs and postcards, playbills and other ephemera have been pasted in.
The volume contains a photograph of Ruck (f. 15) and verse by her (ff. 1 verso, 4 verso). There are fragments of text on the stubs of ff. 13-14, 16-17, 21-28 and on the unfoliated stubs between ff. 17 and 18.

Notebook of Berta Ruck, Aberdyfi, May 1945-December 1946, containing journal entries including comments on the end of the Second World War and its aftermath and notes for fiction, especially the novel Surprise Engagement (London, 1946) (here called 'They are engaged', ff. 27-73 passim). Some one hundred and forty-six letters, cards and telegrams, mostly from family and friends, January 1945-September 1946, cuttings and other ephemera have been pasted in.
The correspondents include Tony Thorne, January 1945-March 1946 (ff. 4 verso, 12 verso, 17a, 26 verso, 44, 56 verso, 65 verso, 73verso-74 verso, 75 verso, 79 verso), Miriam L. Rothschild, 4 January 1945 (f. 6), Ronald Staples, May-June 1945 (ff. 6, 10 verso), J[oseph] P[eter] T[horp], 6 June 1945 (f. 10 verso), Alec Waugh, July 1945-April [1946] (ff. 22, 75 verso, 80), Vicki Baum, 20 August 1945 (f. 24 verso), Bernard Darwin, 28 August 1945 (f. 26a), Oliver Onions, September-December 1945 (ff. 34, 35, 59 verso), A. E. Chesterton, 26 October 1945 (f. 41), Nancy Rodd [ie. Mitford], 12 January 1946 (f. 43 verso), Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, [11 November 1945] (f. 52 recto-verso), Marda Vanne, 11 November 1945 (f. 53), Osbert Sitwell, November-December 1945 (ff. 54 verso, 58 verso), Maurice Bowra, 22 December [1945] (f. 60 verso), Hermon Ould, 11 March 1946 (f. 74), Esmond Knight, [1946] (f. 75 verso), Ivor Brown, 20 August 1946 (f. 83 verso), Ambrose Heal, 16 September 1946 (f. 87), and C. A. Lejeune, 24 May [1946] (f. 89 verso). The volume contains references to the deaths of her friends Ménie Muriel FitzGerald (f. 1) and Edith Heal (f. 87), and conditions in London after VE Day (ff. 7, 8); also verse (f. 46) and an ink sketch (f. 51 verso) by Ruck. Pasted into the volume are 1945 General Election leaflets for Merioneth (ff. 17, 20 verso, 22), and photographs of Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies and Marda Vanne (f. 86).

Miscellaneous papers of Berta Ruck, 1902-[early 1970s], including autograph and typescript drafts of verse, [1920s]-[1930s], many in multiple copies (ff. 1-123); lecture notes, [c. 1935]-[c. 1945] (ff. 124-224); a short story, 'April Folly', [c. 1935], apparently related to her novel Half Past Kissing Time (London, 1936) (ff. 225-248); and some thirteen letters to the author in English and German, [1903x1904]-1971 (ff. 264-283).
The correspondents include Clement Scott, [1903x1904] (f. 264), Marda Vanne, 9 October 1936 (f. 280), Harold Nicolson, 14 June 1962 (f. 281, on the death of his wife, Vita Sackville-West), and Quentin Bell, September 1971 (ff. 282-283, concerning his biography of Virginia Woolf); there are also three letters, 1929, from 'Harry', her Austrian lover (ff. 265-272, mostly in German). Also included are two leaves from Ruck's journal, June 1930 (ff. 249-250); reminiscences, [early 1970s], of Lydia Lopokova (ff. 251-259) with a photograph of her, [?1920s] (f. 260); press cuttings of an article by Ruck, September 1936 (f. 261), and of two articles relating to Virginia Woolf, 1972 (ff. 262-263); W. R. Oliver's school report at Shrewsbury School, 1929 (f. 284); programme for 'My Lady Molly' at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 1902 (ff. 285-286); and page proofs for Chapter 8 of A Smile for the Past (London, 1935) (ff. 287-292).

Notebook of Berta Ruck, October 1931-August 1932, containing journal entries, including an account of her stay in Vienna, October-November 1931 (ff. 2-31), notes for fiction, verses and sketches by the author and a record of her dreams. Some twenty-seven letters, postcards and telegrams from family and friends, photographs, cuttings and other ephemera have been pasted in.
The correspondents include Oliver Onions, [October 1931] (f. 21), Doris Langley Moore, December 1931-February [1932] (ff. 53, 87), Marie Belloc-Lowndes, [1932] (f. 54 verso), Marda Vanne, [1932] (ff. 70 verso, 76a), and Ferdinand Deutelmoser, October 1931, April 1932 (ff. 73, 91). The volume also contains ink sketches (ff. 60, 70, 71, 81 verso) and verse (ff. 47 verso, 66, 68, 93 verso) by Ruck, and a German translation by Deutelmoser of another of her verses (f. 25 verso).

Miscellaneous prose and verse submitted for publication in The Rhyl Advertiser and other papers, adjudications, etc., the contributors including Meredith J. Hughes, Robert Parry ('Robin Ddu Eryri'), John Williams ('Glanmor'), Richard Williams, (Celynog, Newtown), Morris Williams ('Nicander'), Samuel Roberts ('S.R.'), etc.

Eighty-four letters, [c. 1909]-1961, to Augustus John from various correspondents (surnames D-F), including John Davenport (2) 1956-1961, Tommy Earp (9, with six poems) 1930s-1956, Clough Williams-Ellis (1) 1957, Jacob Epstein (1) 1929, and Roger Fry (1) 1931.

Over a hundred letters, ?1908-1961, to Augustus John from various correspondents (surnames G-I), including Oliver St John Gogarty (10, and two poems) 1918-1952, Nina Hammett (3) [1930]-1956, Philip Heseltine, Peter Warlock (1) 1930, and J. D. Innes (3) ?1910-1913.

Forty-six letters, ?1908-1961, to Augustus John from various correspondents (surnames Symons-V), including Arthur Symons (11, and forty-three poems) ?1908-[1935], Dylan Thomas (1) 1950, and G. M. Trevelyan (1) 1956.

Autograph and typescript drafts, [c. 1910s]-1961, of autobiographical writings by Augustus John included in the posthumous volume Finishing Touches (London, 1964) (see also NLW MS 21570E), together with rejected portions of the text (ff. 56-9). Some sections (ff. 60-75) had been submitted to The Sunday Times for publication, 1952-1958 (see MS 22775C, ff. 89-98). Also included are draft recollections by Augustus John of Ronald Fairbank (ff. 76-81), and various drafts of prose and light verse.

A notebook, originally perhaps used by Augustus John as a sketch-book, but containing poems by Arthur Symons, composed during his period of madness and written down, c. 1909, by his amanuensis, Agnes Tobin.

Manuscript and typescript poems, in Welsh and English, by the Rev. T. W. Llynfi Davies, including poems entered for competition at the Corwen Chair Eisteddfod, 1913, and the National Eisteddfod of Wales, Wrecsam, 1933, and Fishguard, 1936.

Twenty-six letters and cards, 1961-1969, from Brenda Chamberlain to Alan Clodd of Enitharmon Press, relating mainly to the publication of her Poems with Drawings (1969) and Alun Lewis and the Making of the Caseg Broadsheets (1969). Also included are a few sketches, poems and photographs, 1936-1969, presented by Chamberlain to Clodd.

Typescript drafts, [1941x1942], of six poems by Brenda Chamberlain, sent by her to Alun Lewis. Two of the poems, 'Would it not move to pity ...' and 'Dead Ponies', were published in The Dublin Magazine, 16 (July-September 1941), pp. 7-10; the others are apparently unpublished.

Some hundred letters, 1929-80 (correspondents N-W), to Ceri and Frances Richards, many of them concerned with their work as artists. The correspondents include John Ormond (11) [?1940s]-1976 (with typescript and autograph drafts and fair copies of poems, and typescript text of a radio broadcast by him, 1954, entitled 'Rest and Unrest: the Art of Ceri Richards'), Victor Pasmore (1) 1969, Peter Pears (8) [1960s-70s], Sir John Rothenstein (2) 1958-68, Roberto Sanesi (12) 1961-76, Stephen Spender (2) 1962, Graham Sutherland (3) [?1941]-56, Vernon Watkins (10) 1960-7 (see note 544, below), with one autograph and one typescript poem.

Manuscript and typescript papers, [?1932]-[c. 1965], of the poet and author Clifford Dyment, comprising poetry, [?1932]-[?1965] (ff. 1-76), and miscellaneous prose, [1948]-[c. 1965] (ff. 77-95).
The poems appear to be mainly unpublished; those which appear in his published collections are 'Mouse' (f. 12) (Straight or Curly (London, 1937), p. 36), 'The Suicide' (f. 35) (Experiences and Places (London, 1955), p. 42), and ff. 46-76 which are drafts, [1955]-[1965], of sixteen out of the twenty-eight new dream poems in section VI of his Collected Poems (London, 1970), pp. 89-102 passim; 'Gedicht voor mijn Verjaardag', [late 1950s] (f. 37), is a Dutch translation by G. K. van het Reve of Dyment's 'Poem for my Birthday' (f. 36). The prose includes a corrected typescript, [1948], of the introduction to Thomas Hood, Selected Poems, ed. by Clifford Dyment ([London], 1948) (ff. 77-88, see also f. 26 verso); a draft letter to Bernard Miles, [early 1950s] (f. 89); and part of an essay on his dream poetry, [c. 1965] (ff. 91-92). Many of the later items are written on the backs of old letters, circulars and other ephemera as well as fragments of a typescript for his autobiography The Railway Game (London, 1962) (ff. 44 verso, 45 verso, 48 verso, 76 verso). A photocopy of the front cover of the original binder is f. i.

Autograph and typescript drafts and fair copies by Dannie Abse of the poems 'In the Theatre' (see Funland and Other Poems, 1973), 'Snake' (see Way Out in the Centre, 1981) and 'The Test' (see Collected Poems, 1977) with a printed version of 'Lunchtime', 1974; and drafts and fragments of autobiographical notes and essays, including 'Princeton Journal', 1973-1974, 'The Crowning of Kid Brother', c. 1977, and 'Sorry, Miss Crouch', all published in A Strong Dose of Myself (1983).

Papers, 1966-1994, comprising letters and cards to the playwright Dedwydd Jones, mostly from actors, playwrights and other prominent theatrical and literary figures.