Bill Read: The Days of Dylan Thomas

˝Dylan Thomas became a famous and almost legendary figure in his own lifetime: the charming, irresponsible, roistering poet who died young and tragically in New York. Since his death just over ten years ago his reputation as one of the major poets of the twentieth century has become established, and there are probably few poets with a wider audience, and few poets who are so solidly admired by the critics. In this short study, illustrated with nearly 100 pictures, most of them previously unpublished, taken over the years by Rollie McKenna and others, Professor Read gives a remarkably clear and sympathetic portrait of the man of genius behind the legend, often making use of Thomas' own words and of those of his friends. A relation who knew him well and read the typescript wrote 'a picture of Dylan not too sweet, nor too unpleasant, but as I knew him: a most lovable character in spite of his faults.'˝