Manuscript and printed poems by R. J. Derfel, and other miscellaneous items, 1858-1913, including a photograph of him, 1902.

An album containing pasted-in cuttings from newspapers and journals and other miscellaneous material by, or relating to, R. J. Derfel, 1855-1904, including manuscript and printed poetry; letters and cards to R. J. Derfel, including a letter, n.d., from Eliseus Williams ('Eifion Wyn'); and programmes and leaflets.

Manuscripts, typescripts, and press cuttings of poetry, largely in free metres, by John Bryn Evans ('Peiran'), London. The compositions belong approximately to the period 1925-1936. Among the titles are 'Eisteddfod [Genedlaethol] Abertawe 1926', 'Pont ar Fynach (Devil's Bridge)', 'Y Rheidol', 'Yr Ystwyth', 'Nant Peiran', 'Eifion Wyn', 'Aberystwyth', 'Dr. T. Charles Williams', 'Hafod Uchtryd', 'Beriah Gwynfe Evans', 'Yr Athro David Jenkins, Mus. Bac.', 'R. S. Hughes', 'Teifi', 'Strata Florida (Ystrad Fflur)', 'Cadair Idris', 'Sir Ellis Griffith Bart.', 'Islwyn', 'Ceiriog', 'A Tribute to A. G. Prys-Jones', 'Y Prifathro y Dr. Thomas Rees, M.A.', 'In Memory of the late Rev. J. Cynddylan Jones, D.D.', etc.

Notebook, 1905-1907, of T. Gwynn Jones, mostly written in pencil, used by him during his stay in Egypt during the Winter of 1905-6 as a diary and for composing English poetry.
The volume contains diary entries for his voyage to Egypt, 21 October-5 November 1905 (ff. 22 verso, 23-28 rectos only), the beginning of his stay there, in Alexandria, Cairo and Helouan, 6 November-23 December 1905 (ff. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34-37), and the return voyage, 28 April-13 May 1906 (ff. 21 verso-22). Also included are some eighteen poems in English, dated 4 December 1905-6 April 1906, mostly drafts, some crossed through or heavily revised, the majority being love poems to his wife (ff. 2 verso-5, 6, 7-17, 18-19, 20, 21). Some are published: 'The Ferry' (f. 7 recto-verso) in David Jenkins, Thomas Gwynn Jones: Cofiant (Denbigh, 1973), p. 169, 'I saw thee' (ff. 8 verso-9) in ibid., p. 109, and 'A Memory' (f. 10 verso) in the Western Mail, 30 September 1920, p. 4; while 'The Rising Sun' [published as 'Come my love'] (f. 11) and 'I will come to thee' (f. 13 verso) were set to music by Robert Bryan (both scores published 1921). Three further verses, October 1905 and February 1907, are in Welsh (ff. 23 verso-24, 37 verso). Eight pages are written in shorthand (ff. 17 verso, 24 verso-31 verso, versos only), these remain undeciphered by the cataloguer. Jones's travel book Y Mor Canoldir a'r Aifft (Caernarfon, 1912), which relates incidents recorded in the diary, such as the Coptic wedding (ff. 34-35 verso), is based mostly on his letters to his wife rather than on the present manuscript.

Two holograph poems and an autobiographical sketch by Peggy Eileen Whistler ('Margiad Evans'), 1952, written for a special issue of Promenade: the weekly review for Cheltenham (no. 3, 26 July 1952). The poems are 'Epitaph' (f. 3) and 'The Shiny Crown' (f. 4). Also included is a printed copy of Promenade (ff. 5-14), including the sketch (ff. 12 verso, 13), 'Epitaph' (f. 14) and 'The Shiny Crown' (f. 14 verso).

A collection of holograph poems, 1953-1956, by Peggy Eileen Whistler ('Margiad Evans'), including 'The Country Churchyard' (1955) (f. 3), 'God's Love' (1953) (f. 4), 'Autumn' ([1956]) (f. 5), 'Bather' ([1953]) (f. 7), 'The Old Name' ([1953]) (f. 8), and 'Cherry Orchard in Bloom' (f. 9).
Other fragments, also in Whistler's hand, include a page of an original play 'Dear Desdemona' (f. 10) [cf. NLW MS 23373E & NLW, Margiad Evans MS 29], and an excerpt from the second part of her unfinished 'Widower's Tale' (ff. 11-14).

Autograph draft, [1972], of Dannie Abse's poem 'Down the M4', containing autograph revisions, deletions and variant readings (f. 74).
Also included is a typescript fair copy of his poem 'Talking to Blake', with a manuscript note to Roy [Davids], dated 28 May 1993 (f. 75). 'Down the M4' was collected (as the first in a sequence of four poems entitled 'Car journeys') in Dannie Abse, Funland and Other Poems (London, 1973), p. 27; 'Talking to Blake' was first collected in Dannie Abse, On the Evening Road (London, 1994), p. 3.

Autograph revised manuscript, [23 July 1915], of Edward Thomas's poem 'Cock-Crow'.
The poem is preceded by an autograph note: 'The image used to appear to me every morning in the spring when the cocks crowed, just like a coat of arms'. The draft includes two autograph revisions in ink that are reproduced in the published text: 'They [?cleave]' is changed to 'Cleaving' (l. 4) and 'Of equal glory' is changed to 'Heralds of splendour' (l. 6). Other textual differences remain: 'that grow by night' rather than 'that grows by night' (l. 1); no comma after 'stand' (l. 5); and 'one on either hand' rather than 'one at either hand' (l. 6). 'Cock-Crow' was first published in Six Poems by Edward Eastaway (Flansham, Sussex, 1916), p. [19], and collected in Edward Thomas ("Edward Eastaway"), Poems (London, 1917), p. 61. It is No. 88 in The Collected Poems of Edward Thomas, ed. by R. George Thomas (Oxford, 1978) (see pp. 244-5), the editor however does not record the present manuscript.

An autograph fair copy, dated 14 August 1920, of the poem 'Lamorna Cove' by W. H. Davies, used as the printer's copy for the Nation. It was first published in the Nation, 21 August 1920, p. 642, and collected in W. H. Davies, The Hour of Magic (London, 1922), p. 12.

An autograph fair copy, [1918], of the poem 'The Soul's Companions' by W. H. Davies. It was first published in the Nation, 20 April 1918, p. 64, and collected in William H. Davies, Forty New Poems (London, 1918), p. 33.
The poem is written on '14, Great Russell Street, W.C.' notepaper. A pencil note 'Poetry for this week' (partially erased) indicates it was used as the printer’s copy.

An autograph fair copy, [1914], of the poem 'Sweet Night' by W. H. Davies. It was first published in W. H. Davies, The Bird of Paradise (London, 1914), p. 20.
The manuscript contains a different reading of line 3, 'Take thou a lover’s grateful heart' rather than the published 'A lover gives his grateful heart', and two corrections in lines 9 and 10, conforming to the printed version. The poem is written on '29 Clarence Gardens, N.W.' notepaper with the address changed by Davies to '22, Priory Gardens, Highgate'.

Autograph copy, [1956], of Margiad Evans's poem 'The Thunderstorm', dated 1954 but said to have been written while a patient at the [Kent and Sussex] Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, two years earlier. The poem is apparently unpublished.

A holograph copy of the poem 'Leisure' by W. H. Davies, signed and dated 8 May 1914.
The poem was first published in William H. Davies, Songs of Joy and Others (London, 1911) and thereafter appeared in various collections and anthologies, including William H. Davies, Collected Poems (London, 1916), The Essential W. H. Davies (London, 1951) and The Complete Poems of W. H. Davies (London, 1963). This fair copy was possibly written whilst the poet was in Gloucestershire visiting friends among the Dymock poets (see Selected letters of Robert Frost, ed. by Lawrance Thompson (London, 1965), pp. 122-124).

Notebook, 1914-1916, kept by Nursing Sergeant Davies of 'C' section of the 130th (St John) Field Ambulance unit, attached to the 38th (Welsh) Division of the British Army. It includes a diary, November 1914-June 1916 (ff. 1-12), describing duties in Britain before embarkation for France on 3 December 1915, and subsequent activities on the Western Front prior to the Battle of Mametz Wood.
A draft application for an army commission (ff. 45, 46 verso) suggests that Sergeant Davies was a native of Carmarthenshire and a former miner. The notebook also contains medicinal recipes (ff. 13-14, 44 verso, 45-6), ration tables (ff. 8 verso-9, 14), and poetry in both English and Welsh (ff. 22 verso-23, 31-44, 49-53). An additional folio, tipped into the volume (f. 16a), contains further diary entries, October 1916, and suggests the existence of a second volume, subsequently lost.

A sample copy, [1929], of part of a projected printed book by Ezra Pound, to be called 'The Complete Works of Guido Cavalcanti', containing also four autograph poems and a prose fragment by Dylan Thomas, [1936]-[early 1940s], and two typescript poems by Vernon Watkins, [c. 1939]. Pound's book was intended for publication in 1929 but was abandoned, with only the first 56 pages printed, when the Aquila Press went bankrupt. The present volume appears to be a sample copy, of which two similar ones are recorded (see Donald Gallup, Ezra Pound: A Bibliography (Charlottesville, 1983), p. 153), consisting of the first two gatherings only (ff. 2-9) and filled out with blank leaves (ff. 10-74). The original Aquila Press fragments were later incorporated into the composite work Guido Cavalcanti Rime, ed. by Ezra Pound (Genoa, [1932]).
The Dylan Thomas poems are 'Then was my neophyte', [1936] (f. 11) (published in Twenty-five Poems (London, 1936), pp. 40-41), 'We lying by seasand', [1937x1939] (f. 74 verso) (first published in Poetry (Chicago), 49.4 (January 1937), 183, and collected in The Map of Love (London, 1939), p. 8), 'Paper and sticks', [early 1940s] (tipped in on f. 12) (first published in Seven, 6 (Autumn 1939), 6, and collected in Deaths and Entrances (London, 1946), p. 23), and 'Once below a time', [early 1940s] (tipped in on ff. 13-14) (first published in Life and Letters Today, 24.31 (March 1940), 274-275; see Collected Poems 1934-1952 (London, [1952]), pp. 132-133); the prose fragment (tipped in on f. 15) is the end of 'One Warm Saturday', [1938], the last story in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (London, 1940), pp. 253-254. The two Vernon Watkins poems, 'The windows', 1939, and 'A bronze head', [c. 1939], are apparently unpublished (tipped in on ff. 16-17). A dried leaf found loose within the volume has been placed in an archival sleeve.

A holograph copy, [1910s], of 'A Boy's Sorrow', an apparently unpublished poem of two eight-line stanzas by W. H. Davies.

Eight typescript poems, [1970]-[1972], by R. S. Thomas, published in Poetry Wales, 6.1 (Summer 1970), 37-38, and ibid. 7.4 (Spring 1972), 9-14.
The poems are 'Vocation', [1970], 'Alma Mater', 'Dimensions', 'No', 'God's Story', 'The Hand', 'Ann Griffith' and 'Amen', [1972]. However, 'Saunders Lewis', also published in the Spring 1972 number, is not present.

Two autograph poems, [1951], by Idris Davies, entitled 'In Glasnevin Cemetery' (ff. 113-116) and 'Mists upon the sea' (f. 117), first published in Dock Leaves, 3.8 (Summer 1952), 28, and ibid. 2.6 (Michaelmas 1951), 36, respectively.
Both appear in The Collected Poems of Idris Davies, ed. by Islwyn Jenkins (Llandysul, 1972), pp. 60-61, 167, and in The Complete Poems of Idris Davies, ed. by Dafydd Johnston (Cardiff, 1994), pp. 161-163.

Notebook of William Jones ('Gwilym Brynaman', 1867-1915), of Brynaman, co. Carmarthen, and Los Angeles, California, containing mathematical exercises, 1887 (pp. 1-36), and fair copies of poems, mostly in Welsh, composed by him, 1902-14, and including poems entered for competition at eisteddfodau in North America and Wales.

Casgliad o farddoniaeth amrywiol, 1733-[1970], yn tarddu o nifer o ffynhonnellau, wedi eu derbyn rhwng 1910 a 1970 a'u hel gyda'u gilydd yn y Llyfrgell Genedlethol. = A collection of miscellaneous poetry, 1733-[1970], derived from various sources, accessioned between 1910 and 1970 and collected together at the National Library of Wales.