DYLAN THOMAS - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 12/09/1937 - HFSID 176154

DYLAN THOMAS
Recently arrived in London, he signs a handwritten 1937 letter apologizing for his late reply. He's been too sick to "do anything except moon & moan about."
ALS: "Dylan Thomas.", 1 page, 4½x7. 68, Parliament Hill, Hampstead, N.W. 3., 1937 December 9. On imprinted letterhead to Mr. Byron. In full: "I want to apologise for not having written to you before, explaining why I didn't come up to town the week I intended. I've only just arrived here, after nearly a month of poverty and bad health in the country, a time when I really couldn't write any letters at all or do anything except moon & moan about. Could we meet this week, or early next week? I shall be in London, I hope, until just before Christmas. Now I am here I do hope I'll be able to get some work, and that, in spite of my rudeness in not writing to you or getting in touch with you in any way, you'll be able to help me. I [word crossed out] rang you up the day of of my arrival, but could get no answer. Apologies again." Although Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) had received immediate critical acclaim when his first book of poetry, Eighteen Poems, was published in 1934, and he followed it with a 1936 work, 25 Poems, he was living in poverty in England and Wales in 1937. In July 1937, Thomas had married Caitlin Macnamara (the couple would have three children), and it was important that he find work, although he had begun writing short stories at this time. Thomas would become legendary in the U.S. with readings of his works in the 1950s. In 1953, the year he died from alcoholism two weeks after his 39th birthday, Thomas, a remarkable performer of the spoken word, read his most famous piece, Under Milk Wood, at a public performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The work was published posthumously in 1954. Irregular left edge. Lightly creased at upper blank margin. Lightly soiled and stained at left and lower blank margins. Fine example.