DYLAN THOMAS (1914-1953)

18 Poems, Dylan Thomas' first book, was published as the result of a prize. Thomas' poems first appeared in the Sunday Referee in 1933 in a feature column called the "Poets' Corner," edited by Victor Neuburg and Runia Sheila MacLeod. Neuburg began to award prizes to poets whose work was judged to be the finest printed in the column over a period of six months. The prize was that the Sunday Referee would publish the winning poet's work in book form. Dylan Thomas became the second recipient of the prize, which he won for the second of seven poems he published in "Poets' Corner," "The Force that through the Grass Fuse Drives the Flower."

The editors had some difficulty getting Thomas' manuscript accepted by a publisher, until David Archer of the Parton Bookshop agreed to have the book printed. Five hundred copies were printed, but only 250 were bound and issued in December 1934. The remaining half, constituting the second issue, were bound and put on sale on February 21, 1936.

This copy is a first edition, second issue. It contains a double presentation inscription from Thomas to Cecilia Tindall and William York Tindall, the Joyce and Thomas scholar. Thomas misspelled Tindall's name, crossed it out, wrote it in correctly, and re-signed it. The book is exhibited with its pale grey dust wrapper lettered in a darker grey.