Showing 15 results

A holograph copy, [1910s], of 'A Boy's Sorrow', an apparently unpublished poem of two eight-line stanzas by W. H. Davies.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

Manuscripts and correspondence, [early 1930s]-1985, of James Hanley and his wife, Dorothy Enid ('Timothy') Hanley, comprising literary papers of James Hanley, 1954-1985, consisting of published and unpublished works of fiction, including novels stories and plays, mainly in draft form, some fragmentary; manuscripts of Timothy Hanley, 1932-1980, comprising journals, 1932-1980, and notebooks, 1932-1950, containing draft book reviews, short stories, poems, letters and sketches; and letters, mostly to their son Liam Hanley, from James Hanley, 1951-1981, and Timothy Hanley, 1951-[1970s].

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).

Tri llythyr, 1886, yn Saesneg, at Vincent Evans oddi wrth T. E. Ellis, O. M. Edwards a John Ceiriog Hughes ('Ceiriog'); tair llythyr ar ddeg (un yn Saesneg) ac un cerdyn post, 1903-1918, at J. Owain Evans oddi wrth Eliseus Williams ('Eifion Wyn'), ynghyd â thoriad o'r Darian a gohebiaeth, yn Saesneg a Chymraeg, [1917], oddi wrth y Comisiwn Yswiriant Iechyd Cenedlaethol parthed Thomas Evans, tad Robert Evans ('Cybi'); deuddeg llythyr, yng Nghymraeg a Saesneg, 1912-1914, at J. Owain Evans oddi wrth Robert Roberts ('Isallt'), ynghyd â thoriad o'r Rhedegydd, 15 Chwefror 1913, sy'n dwyn llythyr oddi wrth 'Isallt', toriad parthed 'Isallt' o'r News Chronicle, d.d., a barddoniaeth Cymraeg a Saesneg, 1911-1913, yn llaw 'Isallt' = Three letters, 1886, in English, to Vincent Evans from T. E. Ellis, O. M. Edwards and John Ceiriog Hughes ('Ceiriog'); thirteen letters (one in English), and one postcard, 1903-1918, to J. Owain Evans from Eliseus Williams ('Eifion Wyn'), together with a cutting from Y Darian and correspondence, in English and Welsh, [1917], from the National Health Insurance Commission in relation to Thomas Evans, father of Robert Evans ('Cybi'); twelve letters, in Welsh and English, 1912-1914, to J. Owain Evans from Robert Roberts ('Isallt'), together with a cutting from Y Rhedegydd, 15 February 1913, which contains a letter from 'Isallt', a cutting relating to 'Isallt' from the News Chronicle, n.d., and poetry in Welsh and English, 1911-1913, in 'Isallt's hand.

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).

A presentation typescript copy by the author, H. W. Badley, Mold, afterwards of Hawarden, of a poem written in March, 1933, under the title of 'Y Gwir yn erbyn y byd. Here followeth ye (Poster) Prize Poem of ye Welsh National Eisteddfod, Wrexham, 1933. Dedicated, without permission, but with due respect, to the Appeals Committee. Not for competition.'

A collection of sonnets and other verse by Frederick Samwell Henderson (1857-1931). Typescript.

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.

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.