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About this blog
A blog about the work and collections of the National Library of Wales.
Due to the more personal nature of blogs it is the Library's policy to publish postings in the original language only. An equal number of blog posts are published in both Welsh and English, but they are not the same postings. For a translation of the blog readers may wish to try facilities such as Google Translate.
Categories
Archives & Manuscripts
A view of the world on a copper printing plate
A few weeks ago I was moving some uncatalogued material from one area of the Map Store to another, in order to make room to …
Posted in Collections
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Tea with the Romany
When I think about the Romany, I remember a neighbour’s story about her brother and his friend struggling to return to their home in Llanybydder …
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Hywel Dda of Boston goes online
Following the successful purchase of the Boston Manuscript of the Laws of King Hywel Dda at Sotheby’s last year, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth …
Posted in Collections, News and Events
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Organic Enclosures
I recently read that in 1953 staff at the British Library found some eighteenth century condoms made from sheep-gut which had been used as book-marks …
Posted in Collections
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The Boston Manuscript Inspected
Paul Russell, Professor of Celtic at the University of Cambridge, and Secretary of Seminar Cyfraith Hywel, acted as our academic advisor in the purchase and …
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Douglas Hyde: an appeal to Oxford
Douglas Hyde was inaugurated as first President of Ireland seventy five years ago, on 26 June 1938. Born near Castlerea, co. Roscommon, in 1860, his …
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‘Drunk and feverish with mystical exuberance’: John Cowper Powys (1872-1963)
The novelist, John Cowper Powys, who died in Blaenau Ffestiniog exactly fifty years ago, in June 1963, tends to arouse either profound admiration or utter …
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Brith Gof and Clifford McLucas
Brith Gof, founded in 1981 by Mike Pearson and Lis Hughes Jones, was a ground-breaking experimental Welsh performance company. Influenced by other European performance companies, …
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Aberystwyth Shipping Records
A valuable resource for genealogists and maritime historians alike has recently been made available on-line on the Library’s Full Catalogue. The Aberystwyth Shipping Records contain …
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Reshaping Welsh Railways – Beeching Report 50 years on
This month sees the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first part of a report into the state of Britain’s railways written by Richard …
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