"WITH BEST WISHES": FIRST TRADE EDITION OF COLLECTED POEMS 1934-1952, INSCRIBED BY DYLAN THOMAS

THOMAS, Dylan. Collected Poems 1934-1952. London: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1952. Octavo, original dark blue cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First trade edition, issued simultaneously with a limited edition (65 copies), of Thomas' major collection, issued the year before his early death, including the first publication in a British trade edition of six poems, including "Do not go gentle into that good night," along with his "Prologue," written especially for this collection, inscribed to an in-law of his wife's friend, Mary Keene: "to Gwen Keene with best wishes from Dylan Thomas. Laugharne, March, 1953," in original dust jacket.

"In 1952 Thomas gathered together 89 of his poems and published them with a specially written poem, 'Prologue'. These were, he said, all he wished to preserve 'up to now'. When Thomas said this, he took for granted that many years of writing lay ahead of him… But with his death, about a year later, all of this changed. For lovers of Thomas' poetry; it was no longer a question of 'up to now' with more to follow; it became a question of the significance of everything his short life had allowed him to bequeath to them." His "Prologue," written in August 1952, "was the last poem, apart from poems in Under Milk Wood, that Thomas completed" (Jones, ed. Poems of Dylan Thomas, xxiii, xxvii). On publication, this collection by Thomas "was greeted as a major event. Philip Toynbee wrote that… he was 'the greatest living poet' in English. Cyril Connolly said… 'he distills quite an exquisite moving quality which defies analysis as supreme lyrical poetry always has'" (Ferris, 280). "First published 1952" on copyright page. With frontispiece portrait from a painting by Augustus John. Contains "the whole of 18 Poems, the whole of Twenty-Five Poems, the whole of Deaths and Entrances except 'Paper and Sticks,' all the poems from Map of Love, and also the following poems which had not previously appeared in a book by Thomas published in Great Britain in an unlimited editing: 'Do not go gentle into that good night'—'In Country Sleep'—'Over Sir John's Hill'—'Poem on His Birthday'—Lament'—'In the White Giant's Thigh'—'Prologue.' A large number of the poems differ from their earlier versions" (Rolph B.16). The limited edition of 65 copies, "published on the same day… [differs] only in the binding, paper and note on verso of title" (Rolph B.17). This copy with blank half title verso; dust jacket rear panel printed in red. Maud, 18-21. This copy is inscribed to Gwen Keene, an in-law of Mary Keene. Mary Keene was a close friend of Caitlin Thomas, Dylan Thomas' wife. Keene was an artist's model—in spite of a tin prosthetic leg—and posed for artists including Lucien Freud, Augustus John, and Matthew Smith. Well-heeled only by virtue of a loose marriage to a prominent businessman, Ralph "Bunny" Keene, Mary Keene reportedly made up for what she lacked in personality by having inexplicable charisma. Regardless of any personality flaws, Mary Keene successfully carried on affairs with three men—Louis MacNeice, Matthew Smith, and Henry Yorke—having a daughter with one of them. Keene, still married and a new mother, moved to Wales during a lull in the bombing of Britain and took up residence in a rented cottage in New Quay. Keene's opinion of New Quay soon soured after an incident involving William Killick, a young captain in the Royal Engineers who had—years earlier—chosen Dylan Thomas for best man at his wedding. During a PTSD-fueled run-in at a bar, Killick ended up in a fistfight with Dylan Thomas. Dylan had become incensed by antisemitic insults Killick lobbed at Dylan's companion, poet Charles Fisher. After the fight was broken up, Thomas went with some friends to the cottage at New Quay and settled in for a drink with his wife and Mary Keene, only to be interrupted by bullets being fired at the cottage. Infuriated by earlier events—and possibly having heard that Vera Killick had an affair with Dylan Thomas (true, but not at that time)—Killick had grabbed a machine gun and started firing at the building. The event formed the basis for the 2008 film, "The Edge of Love." Forced to stay in town by the police as a consequence of the incident, Mary Keene wrote repeatedly to friends about her discontent and compared the police to the Gestapo. So ended Mary Keene's affair with New Quay. However, she continued to spend time with the Thomases and to engage in correspondence with them. This book was signed in 1953, when Dylan Thomas was ensconced at Laugharne, in a boathouse approximately an hour away from New Quay. Mary Keene also lived there, having demanded a small house from Matthew Smith, her longtime paramour and the possible father of her child. Thomas and Keene were both unhappy there: Thomas because he was virtually destitute and could not write, and Keene because she was constantly forced into joining swimming outings with the Thomas' children, Caitlin Thomas having no regard for her tin leg. It was during this period that Keene was visited by her former in-law Gwen (likely to visit Mary's daughter, Alice). Thomas inscribed this book to Gwen Keene just days before his third American tour and eight months before his death from a combination of pneumonia and encephalitis.

Book with text generally fresh, light foxing mainly to edges of text block, a tiny binder's defect to cover, and slight bumping to edges. Dust jacket with minor foxing, mild toning, and some repairs. A desirable signed copy with an interesting association.