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Personal letters to William and Penny Condry mainly by R.S. Thomas and his wife, Mildred Elsie Eldridge (Elsi) and more recently his second wife, Betty, written from Aberdaron vicarage, Sarn y Plas at Y Rhiw, Pwllheli, Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy near Holyhead, Presteigne and Llanfrothen, 1968-1998. The letters discuss mostly the correspondents’ mutual interest in ornithology and other wildlife, frequently referring to the start of the RSPB reserve at Ynyshir and Condry’s wardenship, and the maintenance of Bardsey Island as a nature reserve. Other topics include gardening, publishing, Thomas’s family, his attitude to the Welsh language and his personal beliefs; there are touches of unexpected humour. The letters from Elsi Thomas sometimes include her own sketches and drawings. The file also includes a letter to William Condry from the artist Meg [Stevens], 1984, letters from Thomas’s biographer Justin Wintle, 1995-1996, and press-cuttings about R.S. Thomas, [post-1985]-1993.

The file comprises a typescript Welsh version of the text, translated by R. S. Thomas from the English original, 1993, which appears to be missing, a separate, English version of the foreword, and a complete edition of Wildlife in Our Welsh Parish [Eglwys-fach], containing a tribute to Condry, published in 2000.