Author Archives: Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales

Last month saw the two-hundredth anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Whilst Austen (1775-1817) is surely as popular in Wales as elsewhere, it’s fair to say her Welsh connections are few and far between. Therefore it … Continue reading →

Two Library volunteers describe their recent experience of working as trained demonstrators during guided-tours of the Conservation Studio, where the medieval Boston Manuscript, purchased with HLF funding, is in the process of being re-bound: Sam Shaw: “When the project with … Continue reading →

2012 is the bicentenary of Lady Charlotte Guest’s birth. She settled in Wales in 1833 on marrying John Guest, Dowlais ironmaster. Remembered for her pioneer translation into English of the medieval Welsh tales, ‘The Mabinogion’, Charlotte was also an educator, … Continue reading →

In a recent Welsh-language blog, we reported that the Library’s newly-acquired manuscript of the Laws of Hywel Dda had been disbound and repaired, ready for digitisation. An accompanying English-language blog by Professor Paul Russell of Cambridge University describes the same … Continue reading →

Had circumstances been different, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), the Sussex-born English lyric poet, could have become a permanent resident of Wales. Shelley’s cousin, Thomas Grove, owned Cwm Elan, one of the great estates and mansions of mid-Wales. The 18-year old … Continue reading →

Most people are aware of one Welsh connection with the Titanic, that of 5th officer Harold Lowe from Barmouth, portrayed by Ioan Gruffudd in the 1997 film. Less well known are other Welsh connections with Titanic, which as we all … Continue reading →

Following the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens on 7 February, let me draw your attention to his mysterious activities in the days before his death, aged 58, on Thursday, 9 June 1870. In 1965, the National Library … Continue reading →

31 October 2011 was the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Augustus John (1878-1961) the eminent Tenby born artist famous for both his landscapes and portraits, which include paintings of numerous famous figures. To mark the occasion the Library has … Continue reading →

A hundred years ago, in 1911, John Edward Lloyd (1861-1947) published his History of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest, the manuscript draft of which is now NLW MSS 15071-3E. In doing so, according to his friend … Continue reading →