The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume 9 (Aberystwyth, 2003); Archives Network Wales online (viewed 7 April 2009).
Title based on contents.
Margiad Evans (1909-1958), born Peggy Eileen Whistler (later Williams), was a novelist, poet and artist, from Uxbridge, London. She moved to Bridstow, near Ross-on-Wye in 1920, where she lived until 1936. In 1940 she married Michael Williams and moved to Llangarron, staying there for eight years. She then moved to Gloucestershire and later to Sussex. Her first novel, published in 1932, was Country Dance, she then had three further novels published, The Wooden Doctor (1932), Turf or Stone (1934) and Creed (1936). She also published two autobiographical works, Autobiography (1943) and A Ray of Darkness (1952); a collection of short stories The Old and the Young (1948); and two volumes of poetry, Poems from Obscurity (1947) and A Candle Ahead (1956). She died in 1958.
Novelist, poet and artist Margiad Evans (1909-1958) was born Peggy Eileen Arabella Whistler in Uxbridge, London, but moved to Bridstow near Ross-on-Wye in 1920. In 1940 she married Michael Williams and moved to Llangarron. Her first novel, Country Dance, was published in 1932, followed by three further novels, The Wooden Doctor (1933), Turf or Stone (1934) and Creed (1936). Margiad Evans also published two autobiographical works, Autobiography (1943) and A Ray of Darkness (1952), a collection of short stories entitled The Old and the Young (1948), and two volumes of poetry, Poems from Obscurity (1947) and A Candle Ahead (1956).
Published
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales
Literary and personal papers, 1854, [c. 1932]-1960, of the novelist, poet and artist Margiad Evans comprising mainly manuscript and typescript drafts of both published and unpublished works and including a draft of her second novel The Wooden Doctor (Oxford, 1933), also manuscript and typescript drafts in preparation for her first published volume of poetry, Poems from Obscurity (London, 1947), manuscript essays, and typescript radio scripts by or based on Margiad Evans's work; together with journals for 1933-1934 and 1935-1939, which include mainly literary and personal notes; and miscellaneous papers.
Arranged according to NLW MSS reference numbers: NLW MSS 23357-23374, 23577C.
NLW MSS 23357-23374: Mr Michael Williams, widower of Margiad Evans; Upper Hartfield, Sussex; Donation; 1995
NLW MS 23577C: Mr Michael Williams, widower of Margiad Evans; Upper Hartfield, Sussex; Donation; 1997
Description compiled by Bethan Ifan for the retrospective conversion project of NLW MSS.
Proofs and press cuttings included with the donation are NLW ex 1672. For a group of related papers donated in 1982 see NLW, Margiad Evans Papers, listed in the NLW typescript volume Minor Lists and Summaries 1983, pp. 12-15. A photocopy of Margiad Evans's diary for 1947 (the original not included in this collection) is NLW Facs 870. Other papers are NLW ex 2790.
Readers consulting modern papers in the National Library of Wales are required to abide by the conditions set out in information provided when applying for their Readers' Tickets, whereby the reader shall become responsible for compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 in relation to any processing by them of personal data obtained from modern records held at the Library.
Usual copyright laws apply. Information regarding ownership of Margiad Evans copyright can be found at http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/ (viewed August 2012).
The contents of NLW MSS 23357-23374, 23577C are indexed in greater detail in Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, vol. 9 (Aberystwyth, 2003).
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23357B.
Published
A volume containing an early manuscript draft, [c. 1932], by Margiad Evans of her second novel, The Wooden Doctor (Oxford, 1933), here entitled 'A Divine Image', and containing material not included in the published text. The volume was originally in the possession of the geologist and palaeontologist Robert Etheridge and contains notes by him, 1854, on lead mining in Cardiganshire (ff. 242 verso-244).
'Robert Etheridge F.G.S. F.R.S.E. Philosophical Institution Bristol. 1854' on f. 1; 'P. Whistler Lavender Cottage Ross Herefordshire' on f. ii verso.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23358A.
Published
A volume containing an incomplete manuscript draft, [c. 1938], by Margiad Evans of an unpublished and apparently unfinished novel, 'The Widower's Tale'.
Text
For later drafts of this work see NLW MSS 23359-60 (ff. 1-90 of NLW MS 23358A correspond to NLW MS 23360C, ff. 28-45); see also NLW, Margiad Evans papers 24-27.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23359D.
Published
A volume containing an incomplete manuscript draft, [?1940s]-[1950s], by Margiad Evans of an unpublished and apparently unfinished novel, 'The Widower's Tale'. The present text includes several rejected and reworked passages.
Text
For an earlier draft of the work see NLW MS 23358A; for a later draft see NLW MS 23360C (NLW MS 23359D, ff. 1-13, 16-49 correspond to NLW MS 23360C, ff. 24-59); see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 24-27.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23360C.
Published
Incomplete typescript draft, [?early 1950s], of Margiad Evans's unpublished and apparently unfinished novel, 'The Widower's Tale', with a few autograph corrections; ff. 53-71 represent a reworking of the short story 'The Black House' (see Welsh Review, I (1939), pp. 242-6).
For earlier drafts of this work see NLW MSS 23358-9; see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers, 24-27.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MSS 23361-23362A.
Published
Two notebooks, [?1953]-[?1954], containing an incomplete manuscript draft by Margiad Evans of an unpublished short novel, 'The Churstons'. NLW MS 23361A also includes an apparently unpublished poem, 'In the train' (f. 95 verso).
Text
For a later draft of this work, see NLW MS 23363C; see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 19-21.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23363C.
Published
Complete typescript draft, [c. 1955], with autograph corrections, of an unpublished short novel, 'The Churstons', by Margiad Evans; ff. i-iv, 1-49 appear to be a transcript of NLW Margiad Evans Papers 21.
For an earlier draft see NLW MSS 23361-23362A; see also NLW Margiad Evans 19-21.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23364E.
Published
Drafts of unpublished short stories by Margiad Evans, comprising a typescript transcript, [1950s], of 'A Fairy Story', written c. 1930-2; manuscript drafts of two untitled stories, [c. 1933-4]; an incomplete manuscript draft of 'The Master Died', illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by the author, 1947; a complete manuscript draft of 'Pereena'; and manuscript and typescript drafts of 'A Gentleman from Jerusalem', 1948-1949.
For 'A Fairy Story' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 10 and NLW, Professor Gwyn Jones Papers 74/3; for the final section of 'The Master Died' (which completes the text) see NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 12; for 'Pereena' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 13.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23365D.
Published
Drafts of unpublished short stories by Margiad Evans, comprising a manuscript draft, [c. 1950-1], of 'The Equerry's House'; typescript drafts of 'And Every Day of their Lives', [c. 1951-3]; 'The Haunted Window', 1953, 'Knight's Move', 1953, and 'The Basilisk', 1953; an unfinished manuscript draft, [c. 1954], of 'A Borrower'; a typescript draft, 1954, of 'The Dome'; and a typescript fragment, [c. 1951-3], of an untitled and unidentified story.
Also included are two related letters to the author and two apparently unpublished draft poems, 'Ode. After Illness' (ff. 1-3) and 'Glass' (f. 99 recto-verso).
For 'The Borrower' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 30, which contains a related fragment of a television script; for 'The Dome' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 16, which contains another draft, entitled 'The Last Place on Earth'.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23366D.
Published
Journal of Margiad Evans, February 1933-July 1934, including comments on the progress of her writing and on her relationships with family and friends.
NLW MS 23370D, ff. 1-35 verso was written during the same period as this journal.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23367B.
Published
Two incomplete manuscript drafts, 1954, of 'The Nightingale Silenced', an unpublished autobiographical work by Margiad Evans, describing the worsening of her epilepsy.
Also included is an apparently unpublished draft poem, 'Dedication. The Egotist' (f. i verso), and a list of poems written whilst a patient in the Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells (f. 112).
'Copy written in Tunbridge Wells Hospital September 1954' on f. i; 'Dedicated to: F. L. Golla and Y. B. G.' on f. i verso [Sir Frederick Lucian Golla, the author's neurologist, and his daughter, Yolande].
See also NLW MS 23368B.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23368B.
Published
An apparently complete manuscript draft, 1955, of 'The Nightingale Silenced', an unpublished autobiographical work by 'Margiad Evans', together with a draft poem, 'The Crows Answer' (f. 100 verso).
See also NLW MS 23367B; for 'The Crows Answer' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 4/128.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23369C.
Published
Typescript draft, 1957, with corrections in an unidentified hand, of the whole of Margiad Evans's unpublished autobiographical essay, 'The Immortal Hospital or Recollections of our Childhood'.
For the original manuscript draft(s) of 'The Immortal Hospital' see NLW, Margiad Evans Papers, September 1982 Donation 22-23 (1st part) and NLW ex 2790 (2nd part).
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23370D.
Published
Fragments of autobiographical writings and personal notes, [c. 1934]-[c. 1955], by Margiad Evans, including a draft of the 'Little Nature Diary' (ff. 43-70) published in Autobiography (London, 1943), p. 145-173, and 'Icelandic Notes' (ff. 71-75), which represent a reworking, [1951x1953], of a journal of a visit to Iceland in 1936; ff. 1-35 verso were written during the same period as NLW MS 23366D, and ff. 36-42 just before her departure to Dorset in September 1939 to work as a housekeeper, whilst ff. 76-77 contain notes on her epilepsy. Also included are three letters, 1943-1950, to Margiad Evans, including one from Robert Herring (f. 78), praising her essay 'Down Green Ladders', published by him in Life and Letters Today, 38 (1943), pp. 79-85, later incorporated in Autobiography, pp. 131-136.
Text
For an earlier draft of 'Little Nature Diary' see NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 33; for Margiad Evans's description of her visit to Iceland see also NLW MS 23577C, ff. 92-114 verso, and 'Three Seas' in Life and Letters Today, 46 (1945), pp. 90-91.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23371B.
Published
Manuscript volume containing two essays, [c. 1953], by Margiad Evans, on Emily Brontë (ff. 1-16, chapter 1 of a projected book-length study), and John Clare (ff. 45-54), together with an apparently unpublished short story entitled 'The Lordly Ones' and four draft poems, one of which, 'In memory of a little god', appeared in The Fortnightly, n. s. 1053 (Sept. 1954), pp. 198-200, whilst the others are apparently unpublished.
Text
See also NLW MS 23372C, ff. 1-39, for another draft of her essay on John Clare; NLW MS 23374E, ff. 98-105, for a further draft of 'In memory of a little god'; and NLW MS 23374E, ff. 91-97, for another version of 'Cassandra desolated' (ff. 31-35).
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23372C.
Published
Manuscript and typescript drafts, [1950]-1953, of two apparently unpublished essays by Margiad Evans, one on John Clare (ff. 1-39), the other, entitled 'How do the Children?', on child development and children in literature.
For another draft of her essay on John Clare see NLW MS 23371B, ff. 45-54.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23373E.
Published
Four typescript radio scripts, 1953-1960, by Margiad Evans or based on her work, comprising 'The Silver Lining', broadcast 1953; 'December Day', broadcast 1956; 'Dear Desdemona', [1950s], based on the letters of Lord Byron, apparently not broadcast; and a dramatisation of her novel, 'Country Dance', broadcast 1960.
For 'December Day' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 28 and NLW, Cledwyn Hughes Papers 57; for 'Dear Desdemona' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 29; for 'Country Dance' see also NLW, Professor Gwyn Jones Papers 74/13-17.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23374E.
Published
Manuscript and typescript drafts, [c. 1946]-1956, of poems by Margiad Evans, including penultimate and final drafts of her first published volume of poetry, Poems from Obscurity (London, 1947). Drafts of other published poems, [1953]-[1956], include eleven sonnets published in A Candle Ahead (London, 1956), pp. 32-38 (ff. 71-81), 'The Sufferer' (f. 85; marked 'published in Saskatchewan'), and 'In memory of a little god' (ff. 98-105). Unpublished poems include 'Yesterday and Today' and 'Poem' (ff. 87-89), and 'Cassandra desolated' (ff. 91-97).
For the sonnets, see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 4/78-85; for 'The Sufferer' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 4/32; for 'In memory of a little god' see also NLW MS 23371B; for 'Yesterday and Today' and 'Poem' see also NLW, Margiad Evans Papers 4/51, 97-98; and for 'Cassandra desolated' see also NLW MS 23371B, ff. 31-35.
Title based on contents.
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23577C.
Published
Journal, September 1935-October 1939, of Margiad Evans, including an account of the death of her father in 1935 and of her visit to Iceland in 1936, comments on her relationships with family and friends, draft poems and the first draft of her 'Little Journal of being Alone' (ff. 138-148), later included in Autobiography (London, 1943).
The volume was presented to Margiad Evans by her publisher Basil Blackwell for use as a journal.
For Margiad Evans's description of her visit to Iceland see also NLW MS 23370D, ff. 71-75 and 'Three Seas' in Life and Letters Today, 46 (1945), pp. 90-91.