A Bible For Wales: Preface

Preface

I wish to thank the National Committee to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the Welsh Bible for inviting me in the first instance to write this short history of Bishop Morgan's Bible. Thanks are due also to the staff of the Welsh Books Council for their help and support in preparing the work for publication, to Emeritus Professor Glanmor Williams and Professor R. Geraint Gruffydd for reading the manuscript and for their useful commentary, and to Mr. Paul Joyner for his advice and assistance in choosing appropriate photographs to incorporate in the book.

With most books, it is the text that comes first, the pictures being chosen at a later stage to complement that text. In the case of this book, however, I chose the pictures first and then wrote the text with those pictures in mind. I have done without footnotes and, to facilitate the reading, I have modernized the orthography of the quotations, and translated the Welsh into English. My understanding of Bishop Morgan's Latin preface to the 1588 Bible was greatly aided by the Welsh translation made by Mr. Ceri Davies and published in his book Rhagymadroddion a Chyflwyniadau Lladin 1551-1632 (Cardiff 1986).

Prys Morgan Swansea 1988

These digital images and text are under copyright and prior permission to reproduce them in any medium must be sought from the Librarian, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, UK, SY23 3BU.