Calling all Clubs and Societies

Posted on June 20, 2013

I wonder if the committee members of your club or society have yet arranged your programme of events for the Autumn period?

Have they considered visiting the Library, as a local group from Tanygroes, near Cardigan, will be doing this Saturday?

More and more of clubs and societies are taking advantage of visiting the Library, to enjoy seeing some of our national treasures and learning more about our culture as a nation.
The free guided tours include visiting parts of the building which are normally not accessible to the general public, with an opportunity to learn more about the collections, blogsgs00003visit the exhibitions and galleries, and to marvel at the architecture of one of Wales’s most iconic buildings .

How about enjoying a meal or a cup of tea in the Pen Dinas Café  –  and remember to buy a little a memento at the Shop before leaving.

Free weekly tours are held twice a week, Monday at 11.00pm and Wednesdays at 2.15pm, but it is essential that you pre-book your ticket in advance to prevent disappointment by contacting the Library’s Shop (01970) 632 548 or online www.llgc.org.uk/drwm

For those of you interested in visiting as a society, group or club, full details can be found on the Library’s website.

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World War One : Family connections

Posted on June 20, 2013

In the early stages of the World War 1914-1918 and the Welsh Experience project, which is a JISC funded project to create an on-line archive of materials relating to the experiences of the people of Wales during the Great War, it was decided not to include the books from the National Library’s collections in the list of material to be digitized. We didn’t have workflows for them and there was plenty of other material in terms of archives, manuscripts, images and newspapers for digitization.

Since then some of the library’s private funds have been earmarked to digitize more material that conveys the experience of the people of Wales during the First World War, so we looked at the list of material we had initially identified in our collections, but which we’d decided not to include. Among this material were the books.

I noticed one book, Abercynon to Flanders and back by Wilfred Bowden. My family is from the local area so I started reading some of the story. Mr Bowden joined the army in 1915, when he was technically too young, and served on the Somme and Mametz Wood before being wounded and captured by the Germans in 1918.

He came back to Wales after the war, and took a job with the Great Western Railway in Abercynon, and became a locomotive driver. My father worked on the railway in Abercynon after leaving school so I wondered whether Wilfred Bowden was still working when my father joined the railway. Did they know each other? I read on – Mr Bowden didn’t retire until 1963 so the chances were that my father had worked with him!

Later I called my father to ask if he remembered Wilfred Bowden. It turns out that, as fireman on the engine, my father had worked many times with the man who had fought on the Somme and who had been a prisoner of war in 1918. My father spoke of a respected man who as well as being an engine driver was a magistrate, a local union official and member of the council. Wilfred Bowden spent the years after the war making a great contribution to the local community. It was a miracle he came back alive from from Flanders; this really is an example of one Welshman’s experience of the Great War.

Rob Phillips

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DIGITAL PRESERVATION

Posted on June 19, 2013

In the race to catch up with all the developments of the digital age – the one thing that often gets overlooked is digital preservation. This is a series of activities to ensure that digital data is available now and in the future.

The National Library has been working in this area for years. In this digital age, we are at the forefront of developments and are eager to continue in this specific field. It aims to develop a Conservation and Digital Centre for Wales’ Cultural Heritage.

You are cordially invited to an event organised by The National Library of Wales  to share knowledge, experience and expertise in the University of Glamorgan’s Atrium .

Atrium, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff, 10.00- 2:30, July 19, 2013

There will be presentations by experts from the Library, Sally McInnes, Head of Collections Care and Digitisation Services and Michael Pearson, Library Mab Lab Archivist, along with several other national organisations and an opportunity to discuss the way forward.

RSVP

http://cadwraethconservation.eventbrite.co.uk/#

Further Information
Sian Henson
01970 632 545
sian.henson@llgc.org.uk

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The Fine Bindings Collection

Posted on June 18, 2013

Some years ago the Library established a Fine Bindings Collection, formed initially by transferring rare, fragile or interesting bindings found elsewhere in the printed collections.  Further examples have been added to the Collection over the years.  A former member of the Library’s staff, Eiluned Rees, wrote a series of articles about bookbindings in the National Library of Wales for the Library’s Journal between 1983 and 1990.

Following the retirement a couple of years ago of Julian Thomas as Head of the Bindery, efforts are being made to maintain expertise in this aspect of the Library’s collections.  An internal seminar was held earlier this year, bringing together staff working on rare books, manuscripts and maps, in which we each brought examples of interesting bindings from the collections we are responsible for and discussed their distinctive features and how they should be catalogued.

I subsequently attended a training day at the British Library’s Preservation Advisory Centre in London on “Understanding and caring for bookbindings”.  The day included sessions by David Pearson of the Guildhall Library on “Binding types and structures and their significance”, and by Karen Limper-Herz of the British Library on “Describing bindings”, as well as sessions on the conservation of bookbindings.

As a result of this training and the contacts made with experts in the field, I shall now be able to begin creating full descriptions of our Fine Bindings Collection in the Library’s electronic catalogue.  Many of them have already been described in the microfiche catalogues, but these are only available to visitors to the building.  I hope that cataloguing the collection online will make it accessible to a much wider audience.

Timothy Cutts

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Shane Williams

Posted on June 18, 2013

Eighteen months after playing his last international rugby union match for Wales, Shane Williams plays for the British and Irish Lions team against the ACT Brumbies during their tour of Australia. To celebrate this, the National Library of Wales is proud to offer a limited edition framed print of an oil painting by the renowned artist, David Griffiths. Both Shane Williams and David Griffiths have signed the print. To purchase your own unique piece of rugby history, visit the Library Shop or online.

Paul Joyner, Head of Archive and Art Acquisitions at the Library, said: “This portrait of Shane by David Griffiths has a real sense of presence. We feel as though Shane has just walked in and will be ready in a moment to play another game for Wales. David has managed to capture Shane’s unique sense of balance and his ability to capture our imagination with his amazing gift for retaining the ball and escaping the opposition to score many memorable tries.”

For a limited time, you are able to view the original artwork on public display in the Library’s main hall area

SHANE

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Copi – a new service

Posted on June 18, 2013

At this year’s National Eisteddfod, visitors will be able to order DVD copies of competitions, ceremonies and concerts held in the Pavilion. This can be done through a brand new service, Copi.

This service will be offered by the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, in partnership with the National Eisteddfod of Wales and BBC Wales.

Recently, the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, which is located at the National Library of Wales, became home to this complete collection of Eisteddfod events – a collection which dates back to the Anglesey National Eisteddfod held in 1999.

As well as buying copies from this year’s Eisteddfod, it will also be possible to order copies of events held at any Eisteddfod from 1999. It will also be possible to contact the Screen and Sound Archive after the Eisteddfod to order.

Dafydd Pritchard, Manager of the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales said:

“It’s an honour to receive this collection into the Archive and to safeguard it for the future. We look forward to starting this new venture, and to providing Eisteddfod-goers with the service this year.”

Elfed Roberts, Chief Executive of the National Eisteddfod of Wales said:
“The Eisteddfod welcomes this partnership with the National Library and we look forward to a period of cooperation between the two organisations.”

The Archive will also be responsible for licensing material to production companies wishing to broadcast Eisteddfod clips. More information about the service, as well as fees can be found on the website

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Some Facts and Figures!

Posted on June 11, 2013

•    There are 6 million books in our collection

•    We are one of the five copyright Library’s in Britain – This means we have the right to claim any items published items within the UK, print and electronic.

•    If you put all Library shelving in a row, they would stretch for 118 miles.

•    320 members of staff work at the Library, 46 of them are a Jones!

•    We have 1.5 million maps in the collection

•    Sir John Williams was the Library’s first President

•    The smallest book in our collection is just 1mm x 1mm and includes the rhyme ‘Humpty Dumpty’

•    One item from our collection, The Hendregadredd Manuscript  was found in a wardrobe in Porthmadog.

•    There is over 7,000,000 foot of film kept in the National Screen and Sound Archive’s collection

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‘Drunk and feverish with mystical exuberance’: John Cowper Powys (1872-1963)

Posted on June 10, 2013
Holograph of one of the final pages of A Glastonbury Romance

Holograph of one of the final pages of A Glastonbury Romance

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 frustration and impatience among those who encounter his work. His detractors often dismiss his novels as self-indulgent and verbose, whereas his admirers point out their psychological subtlety, exquisite spiritual insights and intensely lyrical descriptions of the natural world. Many readers are daunted by their extreme length. Few of his novels are less than 700 pages long, and one of the greatest, A Glastonbury Romance, weighs in at around 1200 pages. In an age which prized brevity and economy in English fiction (as exemplified in the works of Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and Muriel Spark), Powys produced works of 19th century proportions, whose scope and ambition invite comparison with the great novels of the Russian tradition.

Although he has never found a place within the canon, Powys has always had a host of passionate and powerful advocates, particularly among fellow novelists. Iris Murdoch declared that “John Cowper Powys is really interested in sex, just as keen on it as Lawrence, but he understands and portrays it far better.” More recently, Philip Pullman has noted that “Powys evoked the English landscape with an almost sexual intensity. Hardy comes to mind, but a Hardy drunk and feverish with mystical exuberance.” And the eminent critic, George Steiner, famously remarked that Powys’s novels are “the only novels produced by an English writer that can fairly be compared to the fictions of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.”

NLW exhibition

Manuscripts currently on display at NLW

Powys was born in Derbyshire in 1872, the son of an Anglican clergyman of Welsh descent, but he grew up in Somerset and Dorset, the area which became the setting for many of his fourteen novels. For twenty five years he earned his living as a charismatic and highly theatrical itinerant lecturer, travelling around America, and writing his books during long train journeys. In 1935, following his retirement, he and his American partner, Phyllis Playter, settled in Corwen, north Wales, the area which provided the setting for two of his late masterpieces, Owen Glendower and Porius.

The Library has been collecting the papers of John Cowper Powys since the early 1980s, and has by now amassed one of the richest collections in the world of his manuscripts. Among the many thousands of pages of his letters and literary drafts are eight hundred love letters to Phyllis Playter, and the holograph of one of his most popular novels, Wolf Solent. NLW has also acquired all thirty three volumes of Powys’s diaries, works which place him firmly among the 20th century’s great diarists.

JCP 1

A small exhibition chronicling his life and highlighting his major achievements can currently be seen in the Library’s World of the Book, display area. It contains a selection of manuscripts, books and photographs, together with a bronze bust of Powys by the sculptor Oloff de Wet. It runs until February 2014.

Geraint Phillips

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Celebrating Fathers Day

Posted on June 10, 2013

The National Library of WalesAs we prepare to celebrate Father’s Day on Sunday 16 June remember there are numerous tasteful gifts available from

The National Library of Wales shop including:

DVD’s
The Last Days of Dolwyn – Richard Burton
Valley of Song – Mervyn Johns, Clifford Evans
The Proud Valley – Paul Robeson
Patagonia – Matthew Rhys

Artwork by local artists Valeriane Leblond, Lizzie Spikes and Ian Phillips.

Kyffin Williams prints.

Books, gardening notebooks, luxury chocolates from Cathryn Cariad

not to mention our wide selection of Father’s Day cards.

*** 10% off for a Father’s Day gift – until 11 June ***

 

Father’s Day is a celebration honouring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June, but it is also celebrated widely on other days. Father’s Day was created to complement Mother’s Day, a celebration that honors mothers and motherhood.

In Hindu culture, it is customary for sons and daughters to touch their father’s and mother’s feet (as well as grandparents) in order seek blessings for any occasion, during weddings and even returning home after a long journey as a form of greetings.

In India, a father is held in supreme veneration and next only to God.

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The Snows of Yesteryear

Posted on June 10, 2013

dawns7

 

At the conclusion of the AHRC-funded research project The Snows of Yesteryear (narrating extreme weather)/Eira Ddoe (cofio tywydd ethafol), we are delighted to announce an afternoon and evening of exciting and stimulating events on June 19th 2013, culminating in the performance of Dawns ysbrydion/Ghost dance 09.02.63 commissioned from Eddie Ladd. We hope you can join us.

“Annwyl ffrindiau
Wedi darllen fod yna helyg ar lan Afon Tryweryn (ar y “Tryweryn Trail”), daeth y stori am yr helygen i gof. Dywedwyd fod yr Iddewon alltud wedi crogi eu telynau ar ganghennau’r coed wrth afonydd Babylon a’u nifer (a dwysder y profiad) yn eu tynnu tuag at y dŵr. Teimlais y byddai’r telynor Rhodri Davies, o Aberystwyth, yn medru ‘neud cyfiawnder â’r ddelwedd hon ac y byddai’r gerddoriaeth, a’r gwaith dawns y gallai ysgogi, fod yn sail i berfformiad am achos Tryweryn. Daeth ef â Lee Patterson gydag ef, un o artistiaid blaenaf yn y sîn sain amgen, a des i â’m brawd, Roger Owen. Gobeitho y dewch chi’n llu hefyd…”
Eddie Ladd

(…Having read that there were willow trees on the banks of the Tryweryn river (on the “Tryweryn Trail”), a story about willows came to mind. It was said that the exiled Jews hung their harps from the branches of the trees by the rivers of Babylon, so that their number (and the intensity of the experience) drew them down to the water’s surface. I felt that the harpist Rhodri Davies, from Aberystwyth, could do justice to this image and that the music, and the dance work thus invoked, could form the basis of a performance about the Tryweryn case. Rhodri brought Lee Patterson, one of the foremost artists in the alternative sound scene, with him and I brought my brother, Roger Owen.  I hope you bring yourselves in large numbers too…)

 

CYMANFA/CONVENTION
Cerddoriaeth. Darlith. Perfformiad.
Music. Lecture. Performance

14.00 Rhodri Davies (telyn) a Lee Patterson (artist sain) ar waith ar y delyn rhew (Mynediad am ddim)
Rhodri Davies (harp) and Lee Patterson (sound artist) at work on a frozen harp (Entrance free)

16.00 Darlith gan Dr. Roger Owen ar achos Tryweryn a dawns ysbrydion brodorion America yn ystod y 19eg ganrif (Mynediad am ddim)

Lecture by Dr. Roger Owen on the Tryweryn bombing campaign and native American ghost dances of the 19th century (Entrance free)

18.00 Saib
Break

19.30 Dawns ysbrydion/Ghost dance 09.02.63
Rhodri Davies, Lee Patterson, Roger Owen + Eddie Ladd (dawnswraig/dancer)
(Mynediad am ddim ond trwy docyn yn unig; Entrance is free but booking essential)

Stiwdio Emily Davies                                              Emily Davies Studio
Adran Astudiaethau Theatr, Ffilm a Theledu    Department of Theatre, Film and Television
Adeilad Parry-Williams                                          Parry-Williams Building
Prifysgol Aberystwyth                                             Aberystwyth University
SY23 3AJ                                                                  SY23 3AJ

Dawns ysbrydion/Ghost dance 09.02.63

Dawns ysbrydion/Ghost dance 09.02.63 is the final output of the research project ‘The Snows of Yesteryear/Eira Ddoe’, which explored archival and personal evidence of resilience and vulnerability to extreme climate in Wales. These narratives were the inspiration for the ideas within the performance, and the work is outlined in the series of events around the performance. The project was funded by the AHRC Landscape and Environment programme, and is led by the University of Wales in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the Internationsl ACRE initiative at the Met Office, the National Library of Wales and Eddie Ladd.

Perfformir y sioe ar ddiwedd diwrnod o weithgareddau – mynediad am ddim ond trwy docyn yn unig.

The show is performed at the end of a day’s activities – entrance is free but booking essential.

Tocynnau/tickets.

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