Dylan Thomas - Under Milk Wood: A Play for Voices
 
First Edition • 1954 • With Original Dust Jacket & Laid-in Handwritten Poem
Possibly by Charles Causley - A Unique and Poetic Association Copy
 
Bibliographic Details
 
Author: Dylan Thomas
Title: Under Milk Wood: A Play for Voices
Publisher: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London
Year: 1954
Edition: First Edition
Pages: ix, 101 pp.
Size: 18.8 × 12.8 × 1.8 cm
Weight: 232g
Format: Crown 8vo
Binding: Rust-orange cloth boards, gilt lettering to spine
Dust Jacket: Original and unclipped (priced 8s 6d)
 
Physical Description
 
A very good first edition of Under Milk Wood, complete with its original dust jacket and featuring a unique handwritten letter containing a lyrical, unpublished poem. The rust-orange cloth boards remain bright with only minor rubbing and gentle fading to the spine ends. The gilt lettering is clear and untarnished. Internally, the book is tightly bound with no pen marks or annotations, and the pages are notably clean for their age.
 
The Handwritten “Peggy Letter”
 
Tucked inside this copy is a remarkable personal addition: a single-page handwritten letter addressed “My dear Peggy” and signed simply “Love, Charles.” Written in flowing ink on cream paper and folded once, the short poem it contains reads:
Angels go robed / Not in the burnished majesty / Of cloth of gold, / But in white linen, fresh from the line…(see the photograph for the full poem).
The gentle pastoral imagery and spiritual tone strongly resemble the style of Charles Causley, the esteemed Cornish poet. The handwriting, too, appears to be consistent with known examples, though at this stage, this connection has not been confirmed. Regardless of authorship, the letter is moving and lyrical: an intimate fragment of mid-century literary life, delicately preserved within the pages of another great poet’s work.
 
Condition Report
 
Binding:
Very Good+: Cloth remains bright with only light rubbing at edges and faint sunning to spine tips. Gilt titles are clean and crisp. Binding tight and square.
 
Dust-Jacket:
Very Good - : Original and unclipped with foxing, edgewear, and several small closed tears and creases (see photos). Still presents well overall.
 
Interior:
Near Fine - : Pages are clean, crisp and tight, with no writing or markings. Only very faint foxing to endpapers and edges. Only small and light creases on a few pages and the very occasional very small mark/very light foxing. All pages present and secure.
 
Insert – “Peggy Letter”:
Very Good. A single sheet of cream paper, folded once, in ink. Some light creasing and faint foxing, but entirely legible. The poem is unpublished and likely uncollected.
 
Provenance & Significance
 
Under Milk Wood is one of the 20th century’s most enduring poetic works, first performed in 1953 and published posthumously the following year. First edition copies in original dust jacket are always desirable, but this one is especially rare, thanks to the personal poem laid inside.
 
Whether a work of Charles Causley or another poetic soul, this piece of verse, addressed tenderly to “Peggy” and marked simply “strictly anon” adds a quiet mystique and emotional resonance that no catalogue record could replicate. A beautiful and evocative association copy, ideal for collectors of modern British poetry, literary manuscripts, or the romantically curious.