Under Milk Wood (1972 Folio Society edition) by Dylan Thomas, illustrated by Ceri Richards, is a stunning synthesis of poetry, visual art, and theatrical imagination. Originally a BBC radio drama (1954), Thomas’s “play for voices” paints a riotous, lyrical day in the fictional Welsh seaside village of Llareggub (“bugger all” spelled backward), where dreams, gossip, and secrets intertwine. From the lusty Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard to the blind Captain Cat mourning lost loves, Thomas’s characters burst with life in a cascade of rich, musical language.
Ceri Richards—a celebrated Welsh artist and Thomas’s contemporary—translates this verbal exuberance into vibrant, abstract illustrations that mirror the text’s fluidity and humor. The Folio Society’s production, with its heavy paper, elegant typography, and a slipcase, honors the work’s status as a 20th-century masterpiece.
A feast for ear and eye, this edition captures the irreverent beauty of Thomas’s ode to human folly and tenderness.
