Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [?1960s] (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
i, 49 ff. (text on rectos only) ; 265 x 205 mm.
Placed in melinex sleeves within ringed binder at NLW.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Saunders Lewis, dramatist, poet, historian and literary critic, was born in Wallasey, Cheshire to a family of prominent Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. He was educated at a boys's school in Liscard and at Liverpool University, where he studied English and French. His academic career was interrupted by the First World War, in which Lewis served with the South Wales Borderers, but he quickly resumed his studies at the end of the conflict, and, having graduated, worked as librarian in Glamorgan before taking up a post as lecturer in the Welsh department of the University College of Swansea. In 1925, Lewis was one of the pioneering figures involved in establishing the National Party of Wales (later known as Plaid Cymru) and was made President of the fledgeling organisation the following year. Having written about the Roman Catholic church for a number of years, in 1932 Lewis converted to the faith also practised by his wife Margaret. In 1936, Lewis, D. J. Williams and Lewis Valentine set fire to the Royal Airforce's Bombing School in Penyberth on the Lleyn Peninsula, an event which has gone down in the annals of Welsh history and which earned Lewis imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs and dismissal from his lecturing post in Swansea. He was eventually appointed senior lecturer in Welsh at the University of Cardiff but retired in 1957 to devote his time to writing. Lewis's litarary output is prodigious and he is considered by many to be the most important Welsh literary and political figure of the twentieth century; it is considered that his radio address for 1962, Tynged yr Iaith, was the direct instigating force behind the establishment of the Welsh language movement Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg.
Archival history
Given by Saunders Lewis (as 'the only copy' of the play) to Alun R. Jones following the publication of Presenting Saunders Lewis, ed. by Alun R. Jones and Gwyn Thomas (Cardiff, 1973).
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Professor Alun R. Jones; Aston le Walls; Donation (with NLW MS 23866D); July 2001; A2001/36.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
A typescript draft of 'Have a Cigarette', an English translation by Saunders Lewis of his play 'Gymerwch Chi Sigaret? (Llandybie, 1956); the translation is apparently unperformed and unpublished.
The English translation amends the original Welsh version in some places, particularly in the second act, the most substantial emendation being an entirely new beginning to that act (ff. 18-21). There are also manuscript emendations and annotations by the author and another unidentified hand. The manuscript title-page (f. i) is in the hand of Saunders Lewis.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Readers consulting modern papers in the National Library of Wales are required to abide by the conditions set out in information provided when applying for their Readers' Tickets, whereby the reader shall become responsible for compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 in relation to any processing by them of personal data obtained from modern records held at the Library.
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
English.
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 23867D.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
GEAC system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
June 2011.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Description compiled by Rhys Morgan Jones.