National Library of Wales General Manuscript Collection
This calf bound volume has the unusual feature of marginalia drawings, mostly religious, including shield, a mermaid, evangelist-symbols and, the crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and John.
The Additional Manuscripts are those donated to the National Library of Wales by Sir John Williams that are not part of either the Peniarth or Llanstephan collections.
Among this group is the volume of poetry written by Thomas Evans in the early seventeenth century (NLW MS 253), which Davies suggests is the smallest Welsh manuscript in existence, measuring 85 x 70 mm.
[5] Seven continental liturgical manuscripts (NLW MSS 493-499), including examples of fifteenth century illumination from Italian, French and Netherlandish schools, were purchased from Sir Edmund Buckley of Plas Dinas Mawddwy in 1912.
[3] They include poems, sermons, accounts and other records of the parish of Ystrad, a roll of members of the Llyfr Cymdeithas Grefyddol society at Llanddewi, Aberarth between 1812 and 1824, and books of the Aberaeron Club, 1795-1849.
[3] Among these manuscripts is a collection of sermons in Welsh and English, mostly from the eighteenth century but with one example as early as 1682, that usually bear the location and date that they were delivered.
[6] Evans visited many libraries in Wales, including Hengwrt and Wynnstay, to transcribe rare Welsh manuscripts in order to preserve their literary content.
[13] Further items from the collections of Paul Panton, which were hitherto unknown, were purchased by Sir Herbert Lewis and presented to the National Library in 1919.
It includes an early Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (NLW MSS 5266B), written in the fourteenth century.
[7] This small group of manuscripts, which had previously belonged to John Griffith of Cae Cyriog, include the Black Book of Basingwerk (NLW MS 7006), a seventeenth century transcript of Pum Llyfyr Kerddwriaeth in the hand of John Jones, Gellilyfdy (NLW MS 7007), and pedigrees relating to the Griffith family and other North Wales families.
There are forty-two harpsichord pieces in total, including some of the most popular music of the period by Corelli, Handel, Bononcini, Porpora, Hasse and Araja.
Evans collected a considerable amount of material related to this town and county and he produced twelve large, beautifully written volumes of transcriptions and research findings.
In 1867 Alcwyn Evans was awarded a gold medal at the National Eisteddfod for his manuscript work A History of the Town and County of Caermarthen, which is present in this group.
Earlier letters, from between 1676 and 1710, to Edward Lloyd form a large group and those sent to Maurice Wynn Groom of His Majesty's Privy Chamber between 1661 and 1678 are also of interest.
[23] The Llanover Manuscripts comprise seventy-seven volumes of notes, transcripts and compositions in the hand of Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg) on a wide variety of subjects including druid mythology, bardism, fruit culture, geology and medicine, and more than forty further volumes of Welsh manuscripts dating from the late sixteenth to mid-eighteenth century and mostly originating in Glamorgan, which Iolo Morganwg acquired.
There are over 700 letters addressed to Owen-Pughe by prominent figures in the cultural life of England and Wales including: Owain Myfyr, over seventy letters from Iolo Morganwg, Gwallter Mechain, Siôn Ceiriog, William Jones (Llangadfan), Thomas Pennant, Paul Panton, Hugh Davies, Theophilus Jones, Edward Davies, Richard Fenton, Richard Llwyd, Twm o'r Nant, David Samwell, Dafydd Ddu Eryri, Thomas Johnes, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Joseph Allen, Thomas Charles, J. R. Jones, W. Richards, Morgan John Rhys, Hugh Jones, Sir Walter Scott, George Chalmers, William Coxe, and Joanna Southcott.
[24] The Sherbrooke Missal and De Grey Hours were both part of the manuscript collection of Henry Yates Thompson that was sold by Sotheby's in 1920.
From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century the manuscript was kept in the Sherbrooke family library in Oxton, Nottinghamshire before it passed into the ownership of the artist William Morris.
