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Papers of, and relating to, Dylan Thomas, [1925x2013], collected and collated by Jeff Towns, including scripts, correspondence, programmes and papers relating to the publication of Under Milk Wood, and radio, stage, film and audio productions of the play, 1953-2005; research papers and works relating to Dylan Thomas, 1937-2006; letters by Dylan Thomas, and the letters and papers of his wife Caitlin, their three children and his parents, 1935-2007; autograph prose works, [1925x1953], and personal papers, [1929]-1960; poetry, [1928x2010], mostly comprising autograph drafts; unpublished autograph letters by Dylan Thomas, [1926]-1995; and a small group of material, 1939-[2013], including four autograph letters, 1939, from the author, relating to The map of love.

Over a hundred letters, 1901-1991, of miscellaneous provenance from twentieth-century Anglo-Welsh writers to various recipients; the correspondents include Gillian Clarke (10, and three poems) 1986-1988, Rhys Davies (10) 1928-1929, 1975-1978, W. H. Davies (13, together with press cuttings, 1905-1950s, and four printed poems) [1909x1913]-1925, David Jones (8) 1960-1973, John Cowper Powys (7) 1927-1953, Dylan Thomas (10) 1938-1952, Edward Thomas (7) 1901-1912, Gwyn Thomas (2) 1952-1953, R. S. Thomas (6) 1956-1960 and Vernon Watkins (5) 1962-1966.

Nineteen letters, notes and postcards to Dylan Thomas, 1952-1953, mainly concerning work, publications and his last trip to America (ff. 1-19), and copies of contracts, 1951-1953 (ff. 20-28).
The correspondents include John [Brinnin], September-[October] [1953], J[ohn] D[avenport], 23 June 1953, Francis Dillon, 22 September 1953, John Griffiths, 21 September 1953, David [Higham], 9 October 1952, Fred [Janes], [13] August 1953, Donald A. Kershaw, 16 June 1953, Arabel J. Porter, 28 September 1953, Liz Reitell, 4 June [1953], Ceri Richards, [?April] 1953, Amos Vogel, June-August 1953, Boris [Watson], [early 1953], and Oscar [Williams], 31 July 1953. There is also a note, 19 October 1953, from 'Evelyn', suggesting he contact the film director Edgar G. Ulmer (f. 5), and a note from Pearn, Pollinger & Higham to Caitlin Thomas, 30 June 1953 (f. 13). There are miscellaneous notes by Dylan Thomas on ff. 1 verso, 4 verso, 8 and 11 verso. The contracts relate to the proposed publications 'American Journal', 19 December 1951 (ff. 20-21), 'Welsh Fairy Tales and Legends', 23 February 1953 (ff. 22-24), and 'Under Milk Wood', 24 July 1953 (ff. 27-28), and to a recording session for Caedmon Publishers, 17 May 1953 (ff. 25-26). Also included is a bank statement, 22 June 1953 (f. 29), and his Temporary Entry Permit into the USA, 20 October 1953 (f. 30).

Letters, 1933-1953, to Idris Davies from over forty correspondents including T. S. Eliot, 1944-1949 (ff. 30, 39, 60), Dylan Thomas, 1949-1953 (ff. 53, 77), Vernon Watkins, 1950 (ff. 62-65 verso, 83), and W. B. Yeats, 1936 (f. 11).

One page of untitled holograph notes by Dylan Thomas, 1953, written whilst composing his last poem, the unfinished 'Elegy' to his father, David John (D.J.) Thomas, who died on 16 December 1952.
The work first appeared in print, as a 'previously unpublished poem', in Encounter, 6/2 (February 1956), and was included by Vernon Watkins as an appendix to the Collected Poems after 1956. For a copy of the poem as completed by Vernon Watkins, see NLW MS 22552E.

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1948-1967, of published poetry and published and unpublished prose by Vernon Watkins, mostly composed following the death of Dylan Thomas in 1953, including drafts of Vernon Watkins's poem 'Elegy for the Latest Dead', 1954, and two unfinished poems by Dylan Thomas, 'Elegy' and 'In Country Heaven', completed by Vernon Watkins; and radio scripts, lecture notes, draft reviews and articles by him relating to Dylan Thomas and his work.

Miscellaneous personal items belonging to Dylan Thomas, 1948-1953.
They include his used cheque book (item 1), three envelopes (items 5-7) and a betting memo (item 8), all with notes, mainly racing tips, by Thomas, [1953]; his final airline ticket, issued 29 September 1953 (item 2); his National Insurance cards for 1948-49 and 1949-50 (items 3-4); and photographs of a boy in a cub scout type uniform (item 10) and an unidentified woman (item 11). Also included is his red leather travel wallet (item 14), containing a brief note (item 12) and a bus ticket (item 13).

A page from an autograph album containing an original poem of two stanzas signed by Dylan M[arlais] Thomas and written at Hendre Farm, St. Dogmaels, co. Pembroke, in 1930.

Letter, dated 23 August 1939, from Dylan Thomas to Thomas Taig, enclosing a selection of poems intended 'for some kind of dramatic presentation' (f. 1). The writer encloses holograph fair copies of two of his poems: 'Find meat on bones that soon have none ...' (ff. 2-4) and 'Ears in the turrets hear ...' (ff. 5-6). He also encloses his own transcripts of George Woodcock's poem 'Landore' (f. 7), and Alan Pryce-Jones's 'Voyage' (ff. 8-9), together with three published issues of Keidrych Rhys's periodical Wales, 1937-8 (ff. 10-69), one of which bears Dylan's signature, and notes (f. 69 verso).
Thomas Taig was active in the Swansea Little Theatre, and intended to present poems by Welshmen writing in English at a London theatre at the end of September 1939; see further Dylan Thomas, The Collected Letters, ed. by Paul Ferris (London, 2000), pp. 438 and 452n.

Seven telegrams, 1942-1947, from Dylan Thomas to his friend, the writer and art critic, Thomas Wade Earp, regarding arrangements for meetings; together with a telegram, 1944, from Caitlin Thomas to TWE.

A first draft screenplay by the director Andrew Sinclair (Timon Films, London), [1971]-[1972], of the play by Dylan Thomas. A piece of paper has been pasted on the title page with the words: 'For Andrew, I have rarely admired or liked a man better! Affectionately Richard B.'.