Item NLW MS 23699E, ff. 38-43. - Letters from Brenda Chamberlain,

Identity area

Reference code

NLW MS 23699E, ff. 38-43.

Title

Letters from Brenda Chamberlain,

Date(s)

  • 1969-1971 / (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

6 ff.

Context area

Name of creator

(1912-1971)

Biographical history

Writer and artist Brenda Chamberlain (1912-1971) was born and raised in Bangor, Caernarfonshire, and educated privately before embarking on her art studies at the Royal Academy, London in 1931. In 1935 Chamberlain married the artist John Petts. The following year the couple moved to Llanllechid, where they set up the Caseg Press, producing postcards and bookplates, and also the Caseg Broadsheets - featuring poetry by Chamberlain and others - with the poet and writer Alun Lewis. Chamberlain's marriage to Petts ended in 1946. Thereafter she lived briefly in Germany before settling on Bardsey Island, where she wrote and painted until, in 1961, she moved to the Greek island of Idhra. In 1967 Chamberlain returned to Bangor, where she died in 1971. Amongst Chamberlain's major published works are the poetic anthology The Green Heart (London, 1958) (dedicated to Karl von Laer), Tide-Race (London, 1962), an account of her life on Bardsey, her only novel The Water Castle (London, 1964), A Rope of Vines (London, 1965), chronicling her time on Ydra, Poems With Drawings (London, 1969), and Alun Lewis and the Making of the Caseg Broadsheets (London, 1969).

Name of creator

(1938-2018)

Biographical history

Meic Stephens, poet and editor, was born in Trefforest and educated at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and the University of Rennes. From 1962 to 1966, he taught French in Ebbw Vale. He established The Triskel Press at Merthyr Tydfil, where he lived at the time, and also launched the periodical Poetry Wales, which he edited from 1965 until 1973; also served for a year on the staff of the Western Mail. In 1967, Stephens was appointed Literary Director with the Welsh Arts Council. He published his first poetic works in Triad (1963). His work Linguistic Minorities in Western Europe (Llandysul, 1976) involved a detailed study of culture and politics in sixteen European states. Amongst the works edited by Stephens are an anthology of Anglo-Welsh poetry titled The Lilting House (with John Stuart Williams, London and Llandybïe, 1969), Artists in Wales (three volumes, Llandysul, 1971, 1973, 1977), the Writers of Wales series (with R. Brinley Jones, 1970- ), the poetic anthology Green Horse (with Peter Finch, Swansea, 1978), and Cydymaith i Lenyddiaeth Cymru (Llandysul, 1986).

Name of creator

Biographical history

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Mr Colin Huggett; Tregarth; Purchase (with NLW ex 1934 and additional Glyn Jones Papers); August 1998; B1998/26.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Four letters and a card, 1969-1971, from the artist and writer Brenda Chamberlain to Meic Stephens, mainly concerning her contribution to his book, Artists in Wales (Llandysul, 1971) (ff. 38, 40-43), together with one letter from Chamberlain, 1970, addressed to Elan Closs Roberts, relating to the Welsh Arts Council's 'Dial-a-poem' project (f. 39).

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Arranged chronologically at NLW.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Usual copyright laws apply. Information regarding the ownership of Brenda Chamberlain copyright can be found at http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/ (viewed June 2009).

Language of material

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

Letters of other contributors to Artists in Wales are NLW, Meic Stephens Papers 1.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Title based on contents.

Note

Preferred citation: NLW MS 23699E, ff. 38-43.

Alternative identifier(s)

Virtua system control number

vtls004404242

GEAC system control number

(WlAbNL)0000404242

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related genres

Related places

Physical storage

  • Text: NLW MS 23699E, ff. 38-43.