Keidrych Rhys was one of the most influential writers in Wales in the 40s and 50s, the result of his own practice as a poet, his editorship of Wales magazine, his taste for controversial polemic and his compiling of influential poetry anthologies for Faber. Dylan Thomas, Glyn Jones, Vernon Watkins, Emyr Humphreys, Alun Lewis, RS Thomas and many others were among his circle of friends and literary acquaintances; he was married to the poet Lynette Roberts. He relocated to Hampstead during the 50s where he revived his magazine, and took part in the literary scene.

This book brings together The Van Pool (Faber, 1942), Rhys's only poetry collection, and a variety of uncollected and unpublished poems, many freshly discovered by the editor. To this Mundye adds notes to the poems and an Introduction providing a biographical context to an at times controversial writer whose life has often been clouded by fictions. The Foreword to the book is written by Jim Perrin.