Diary of Dylan's wife up for sale

Dylan and Caitlin Thomas had a tempestuous marriage

A previously unpublished document by the wife of the poet Dylan Thomas is to go on sale.

Booksellers R.A. Gekoski says it is part of the "world's finest collection of Dylan Thomas inscribed books, letters and manuscripts," on offer.

Caitlin Thomas' 43-page manuscript describes her love for him and an account of their adventures together.

The collection assembled over 15 years by an American collector can be bought for £250,000.

Rick Gekoski said Caitlin's writings dating from 1955 were clearly part of a much larger work which had been lost.

"It's an impassioned account of her love for the dead poet and reflections on her new role as a literary widow," he said.

"It is an exciting new addition to our knowledge of the relationship between Dylan Thomas and his wife."

Mr Gekoski , a London-based antiquarian bookseller, said her writings pre-date her book on him, Leftover Life to Kill, which was published two years later in 1957.

A page from Caitlin Thomas' exercise book

He said the manuscript was similar to a diary, documenting her initial thoughts and feelings about life without him after his death aged 39.

"It is very raw and emotional. Sometimes she says 'Oh my God, I wish I'd never married him' and at other times she wishes she was in the grave with him giving him a cuddle."

In one entry, following the poet's death on 9 November 1953, Caitlin talks of her longing adding: "Oh God, oh Dylan, it must be cold down there; it is cold enough on top, in November: the dirtiest month of the year that killed you on the ninth vile day.

"If only I could take you a bowl of your bread, and milk, and salt, that you always drank at night, to warm you up."

Bloomsbury-based Mr Gekoski said the collection was of "museum-quality importance".

The collection also includes some of Dylan Thomas' books and letters to Caitlin and to his parents, a draft poetic notes for the eulogy on his father's death and the typescript of the BBC production of Under Milk Wood.