| The National Library of Wales | |
|---|---|
| Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru | |
 | |
 | |
| 52°24′52″N4°4′8″W / 52.41444°N 4.06889°W /52.41444; -4.06889 | |
| Location | Penglais Road,Aberystwyth,Ceredigion SY23 3BU |
| Type | National Library |
| Established | 19 March 1907 (118 years ago) (19 March 1907) |
| Reference to legal mandate | Established by Royal Charter on 19 March 1907. Supplemental Charters were given to the Library in 1911, 1978 and 2006 |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Printed Works, Maps, Archives, Manuscripts, Audio Visual Material, Photographs, Paintings |
| Size | 6M Books, 1.5M Maps, 950,000 Photographs, 60,000 Works of Art |
| Criteria for collection | Acquisition through purchase, bequest and legal deposit |
| Legal deposit | Yes |
| Access and use | |
| Access requirements | Library open to all. Access to reading rooms restricted to over 16s without prior permission. |
| Other information | |
| Budget | £9.89 million (2020–21)[1] |
| Director | Rhodri Llwyd Morgan |
| Employees | around 230FTE |
| Website | www |
TheNational Library of Wales (Welsh:Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru,pronounced[ˈɬəvr̩ɡɛɬˌɡɛnɛdˈleɨ̯θɔlˈkəmrɨ̞]) inAberystwyth is the nationallegal deposit library ofWales and is one of theWelsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the largest collections of archives, portraits, maps, and photographic images in Wales. The Library is also home to the national collection of Welsh manuscripts, the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, and the most comprehensive collection of paintings andtopographical prints in Wales.[2][3] As the primaryresearch library andarchive in Wales[4] and one of the largest research libraries in theUnited Kingdom, the National Library is a member ofResearch Libraries UK (RLUK)[5] and theConsortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).[6]
At the very core of the National Library of Wales is the mission to collect and preserve materials related to Wales and Welsh life and those which can be utilised by the people of Wales for study and research.[7]Welsh is the Library's main medium of communication, but it does aim to deliver all public services in Welsh and English.[8]
In 1873, a committee was set up to collect Welsh material and house it atUniversity College, Aberystwyth. In 1905, the government promised money in its budget to establish a National Library and aNational Museum of Wales, and thePrivy Council appointed a committee to decide on the location of the two institutions.[9]David Lloyd George, who later became Prime Minister, supported the effort to establish the National Library in Aberystwyth,[10] which was selected as the location of the library after a bitter fight withCardiff, partly because a collection was already available in the College.Sir John Williams, physician and book collector, had also said he would present his collection (in particular, thePeniarth collection of manuscripts) to the library if it were established in Aberystwyth. He also eventually gave £20,000 to build and establish the library.
Cardiff was eventually selected as the location of the National Museum of Wales. Funds for both the National Library and the National Museum were contributed by the subscriptions of the working classes, which was unusual in the establishment of such institutions. In a Prefatory Note toA List of Subscribers to the Building Fund (1924), the first librarian,John Ballinger, estimates that there were almost 110,000 contributors.[10] The Library and Museum were established byRoyal Charter on 19 March 1907.[9][11] The Charter stipulated that if the National Library of Wales should be removed from Aberystwyth then the manuscripts donated by Sir John Williams will become the property of the University College.[10][12] A new Royal Charter was granted in 2006.
The National Library of Wales was granted the privilege of legal deposit under theCopyright Act 1911. Initially, however, the Library could only claim material deemed to be of Welsh and Celtic interest without any restrictions on expensive or limited edition publications.[13] In 1987, the last of these restrictions were removed to make the legal deposit entitlement of the National Library of Wales equal to those of theBodleian Library,Cambridge University Library,Trinity College Library, Dublin and theNational Library of Scotland.[14]
The first use of theLibrary of Congress Classification by a library in Britain was at the National Library of Wales in 1913.[15]
On 15 July 1911King George V and Queen Mary laid the foundation stone of the National Library of Wales.[16] Designed by architectSidney Greenslade, who won the competition to design the building in 1909, the building at Grogythan,[17] off Penglais Hill, was ready for occupation in August 1915 but the task of transferring the collections was not completed until 1 March 1916,St David's Day.[10] The central block, orcorps de logis, was added byCharles Holden to a modified version of Greenslade's design. It was completed in 1937 and is aGrade II* listed building.[16][18] The grounds (landscaping) of the National Library of Wales are also Grade II listed, and are seen as a significant part of the historical landscape ofWales[19] with the landscaping both supporting, and playing a key part of the overall architectural design of the library building.
The Library is faced with Portland stone on the upper storeys which contrasts with the Cornish granite below it.[7] Restoration work was necessary in 1969 and 1983 due to the effects of weathering on the Portland stone.[20] In recent years many changes have been made to the front part of the building.
The large North Reading Room, where printed books are consulted, has "the proportions of a Gothic Cathedral", being 175 feet long, 47 feet wide and 33 feet high. There are galleries at three levels above the floor. The feasibility of installing a mezzanine floor to make better use of the space has been considered on two occasions. Until 2022, The South Reading Room was used for consulting archives, manuscripts, maps and other printed materials. It now houses the Wales Broadcast Archive Centre, an Archive of programmes from all the major Welsh broadcasters dating back to the beginnings of broadcasting in Wales in the 1920s; this includes BBC Wales, ITV Wales and S4C.[21] Carved above the entrance is the room's original name the Print and Maps Room. Above it on the second floor of the south wing is the Gregynog Gallery where temporary and permanent exhibitions display the treasures of the Library's collections.[20]
A six-storey bookstack, which was completed in 1931, was built to increase storage space for the rapidly expanding book collection.[16] A second bookstack was officially opened in March 1982.[16] In 1996, the Third Library Building was opened, doubling the storage capacity of the Library.[16] The second phase of the building was built by T. Alun Evans (Aberystwyth) Ltd.
A fire on 26 April 2013 destroyed a section of roofing in an office area of the building.[22][23] Restoration was assisted by a government grant of £625,000.[24]
During theSecond World War, many of Britain's most valuable artworks and manuscripts were stored in the National Library of Wales, which provided the evacuated treasures with a refuge from enemy bombing raids.[10][25][26][27] The architect Charles Holden was instructed to design a tunnel for this purpose in the outcrop of rock close to the main building, with theBritish Museum sharing in the costs that this incurred. The tunnel was heated and ventilated to ensure the preservation of vellum, papyri and paper during its use from 18 July 1940 until 23 May 1945. In addition to an extensive consignment from the British Museum,[10] which weighed over one hundred tons,[28] the Library received forty-six boxes of manuscript and printed books fromCorpus Christi College, Cambridge and over a thousand pictures, eighty-two boxes of books and twenty members of staff from theNational Gallery.[10] The Library also received irreplaceable items from other prestigious institutions such as theAshmolean Museum, Oxford,Dulwich College andthe Royal Society.[29]
A number of distinguished scholars from the British Museum accompanied the collections to Aberystwyth.[10] Their senior member of staff was Deputy Keeper of Printed Books, Victor Scholderer, who responded to aletter from the Director,Sir John Forsdyke, by insisting that he and his colleagues would continue to sleep in the Library so that the tunnel could be checked during the night to ensure that the air conditioning was functioning properly.[28] Scholderer, an expert onincunabula, producedA Handlist of Incunabula in the National Library of Wales in gratitude to the hospitality that was afforded to them by the Library.[10] Likewise,Arthur E. Popham, Keeper of Prints and Drawings, dedicatedThe Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci "To the Librarian and staff of the National Library of Wales".[10][29] Several other institutions donated funds to the Library as an expression of their gratitude[29] and Mrs. David Sassoon, London presented two works by Cicero that were printed at Venice in the fifteenth century.[30]
The documents and artefacts that spent World War II in the care of the National Library include an originalexemplification ofMagna Carta,[25] drawings byLeonardo da Vinci,[25] paintings byRembrandt,Rubens andVelásquez fromDulwich College,[10] letters of the kings and queens of England,[25] and autographs belonging toWilliam Shakespeare.[25]
The librarian of the National Library of Wales holds the title of National Librarian of Wales, and also serves as the National Library's chief executive. The National Librarians since 1909 have been:
The collections of the National Library of Wales include over 6.5 million printed volumes,[2] including the first book printed in Welsh,Yny lhyvyr hwnn (1546).[35] In addition to the printed book collections, there are about 25,000 manuscripts in the holdings.[36] The archival collections at the Library include the Welsh Political Archive[37] and National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.[38] The Library also keeps maps,[39] photographs,[40] paintings, topographical and landscape prints,[41] periodicals and newspapers.[42][43] In 2010, the Peniarth Manuscript collection andThe Life Story of David Lloyd George were amongst the first ten inscriptions on theUK Memory of the World Register, aUNESCO record of documentary heritage of cultural significance.[44]
Collection development is focused on materials relating to the people of Wales, those in the Welsh language and resources forCeltic studies,[3][4] but other materials are collected for the purposes of education and literary and scientific research.[4] As alegal deposit library, the National Library is entitled to request a copy of every work published in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[45][46][47] This has allowed the Library to collect modern Welsh, Irish and Gaelic language books for its Celtic collection.[30] The acquisition of material through legal deposit has been supplemented by purchases, international exchanges, donations and bequests.[13]
The Celtic collection includes works in all six Celtic languages. A representative collection ofScottish Gaelic books has been assembled, primarily through purchase of earlier publications, guided by the standard bibliographies, and, for books published after 1911, by legal deposit. Irish literature, which is far more extensive, has been collected through a similar combination of purchase and deposit. However, many collections purchased by or donated to the Library have contained rare Irish books. The Library of DrE. C. Quiggin, which was received in 1921, contained a large Irish collection and many earlyBreton books. Further Breton books have been purchased or were acquired in the libraries ofSir Edward Anwyl, Thomas Powel,Dr Thomas Gwynn Jones, Dr Paul Diverres andLlywarch Reynolds. The holdings ofCornish andManx printed books include practically everything that has been published in those languages, with a few facsimiles.[30]
The Library's holdings can also be found in theEuropean Library[48] andCopac[49] union catalogues.
The National Library of Wales keeps many rare and important manuscripts, including theBlack Book of Carmarthen[50] (the earliest surviving manuscript entirely in Welsh), theBook of Taliesin,[51] theHendregadredd Manuscript,[52] and an early manuscript ofGeoffrey Chaucer.[53] Around three hundred medieval manuscripts are deposited in the Library: about 100 are in Welsh.[54] The manuscript collection amalgamated a number of entire collections that were acquired in the early years of the Library's existence, including the Hengwrt-Peniarth, Mostyn, Llanstephan, Panton, Cwrtmawr, Wrexham and Aberdare manuscripts.[54][55] The Welsh manuscripts in these foundation collections were catalogued by DrJ. Gwenogvryn Evans in theReports on manuscripts in the Welsh language that he compiled for the Historic Manuscripts Commission.[55]
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ThePeniarth Manuscripts collection is considered to be of global significance and the most important collection of manuscripts in the National Library of Wales. In 2010, it was included in the UK Memory of the World Register of documentary heritage.[44][56] Of the 561 volumes of manuscripts in the Peniarth collection, some four-fifths were collected byRobert Vaughan (c. 1592–1667) for his library in Hengwrt, Meirioneth.[10][44][56] Three of theFour Ancient Books of Wales are part of the Peniarth collection, and this is indicative of the overall quality of the manuscripts and their importance as part of Welsh heritage. There are, however, also manuscripts in Cornish, Latin and English that are themselves noteworthy.[10][56] The collection includes:
TheLlanstephan Collection of manuscripts was donated to the National Library of Wales by Sir John Williams in 1909. It had been his personal collection, which he kept in the library of his home, Llanstephan mansion, Carmarthenshire.[10][68] The collection is composed of the 154 manuscripts which had belonged toMoses Williams (1685–1742),[54] that were purchased fromShirburn Castle, Oxfordshire and other manuscripts of diverse origins collected by Sir John. Medieval Welsh prose is well represented in the Shirburn Castle collection, with chronicles, legends, fables, theological tracts and collections of works by eminent poets of the period. These manuscripts include a Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria from the 13th century, theGutun Owain Manuscript and the Red Book of Talgarth.[10][68]
The Cwrtmawr Manuscripts are one of the significant manuscript collections that were transferred to the National Library of Wales in the early years of its existence. They are from the personal collection ofJohn Humphreys Davies, who was the Principal of University College, Aberystwyth.[69] Davies was a barrister and a keen book collector who acquired the manuscripts gradually from a number of sources. The largest group of manuscripts are those acquired fromJohn Jones ('Myrddin Fardd'), but there are several other substantial groups including those from a Welsh clerical family, the Richards of Darowen,Peter Bailey Williams and his brother Rev. St George Armstrong Williams, William John Roberts ('Gwilym Cowlyd'), andDaniel Silvan Evans.[70]
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In addition to the Peniarth and Llanstephan manuscripts, the collection that Sir John Williams donated to the National Library included 500 manuscripts in the general collection (NLW MS 1–500). These manuscripts are an amalgamation of the various purchases that Sir John made between 1894 and 1899, including groups of manuscripts from the Welsh philologist Egerton Phillimore,Sir Thomas Phillipps of Middle Hill, the Ashburn library andSir Edmund Buckley of Plas Dinas Mawddwy. Descriptions of 446 of these manuscripts are provided by J. H. Davies inAdditional Manuscripts in the Collections of Sir John Williams, which the Library published in 1921.[10][55] The manuscripts in the National Library which are not part of the foundation collections are the focus of theHandlist of manuscripts, which was first published in 1941.[54] All manuscripts acquired by donation or purchase are added to this open-ended series, either singly or in groups, if they are: a) in a format compatible with the collection, i.e. manuscript books or rolls, or unbound material that can be filed; and b) not integral to an archive or individual collection. There is, however, much archival material, most notably correspondence, held in the General Manuscript Collection.[54] Individual manuscripts of particular interest include:
Groups of manuscripts in the general collection include:
There are many rare books in the National Library of Wales including the three earliest books printed in Welsh,[12]Yny lhyvyr hwnn (1546),[12][35]Oll synnwyr pen Kembero ygyd (1547)[12] andA Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe (1547) byWilliam Salesbury.[12] The Library also holds the firstWelsh translation of the complete Bible (1588).[80] The National Library's rare books include collections of incunabula, sixteenth-century European imprints, private press publications, bindings and scientific works.[13]
Thanks to the collections of printed books that were donated by Sir John Williams, J. H. Davies and Edward Humphrey Owen, the Library has particularly strong holdings of publications in the Welsh language from before 1912. Of the 286 Welsh books published between 1546 and 1710, the National Library possesses copies of 210, and has facsimiles of others that exist as a unique copy in another institution.[30]
Many of the named collections of printed books include early or otherwise rare books:
The Sir John Williams Collection forms the nucleus of the Library's printed books collection. The collection of approximately 23,360 volumes contains many items of importance to the history of Welsh printing, which were donated to the Library when it was established in 1907. Nineteen of the first twenty-two books published in Welsh are present,[12] of which fourteen were acquired from theShirburn Castle library with the Llanstephan Manuscripts. The collection from Shirburn Castle comprises 193 printed books and pamphlets that were all printed before 1750; a superb miscellany of books from the first century of Welsh printing.[10] Some of the particularly significant items that belonged to Sir John are:
Purchased in 1910, the library of Edward Humphrey Owen (1850–1904), from Ty Coch, Caernarfon, is the third of the National Library of Wales' foundation collections. The 3,680 volumes are mainly of Welsh interest, with the 1567 New Testament and 1588 Bible to be found among some twenty books from the sixteenth century. Other items of interest are a first edition of Milton'sParadise lost (1668), numerous first editions ofJohn Ruskin andGeorge Borrow, and books from the Baskerville andStrawberry Hill presses.[81]
When John Humphreys Davies died on 10 August 1926 he bequeathed his collection of over 10,000 printed volumes to the National Library of Wales. Davies was a keen bibliographer who acquired multiple copies of some works for variants in the typography and accumulated an important collection of Welsh literature, discovering some previously unrecorded works in the process. Some of the early Welsh books that Davies collected contain leaves or signatures that were not in the copies that the National Library already possessed.[30] The rare books include:
There are also substantial collections of pamphlets, elegies, almanacs, ballads, satires and tracts that Davies had collected.[30]
In 1922 the National Library of Wales purchased the collection of French medieval literary texts and early illustrated books that had been assembled byFrancis William Bourdillon (1852–1921). Bourdillon's library included twenty-three editions of theRoman de la Rose and an important group of works on the Arthurian legend. The 6,178 printed volumes include sixty-six incunabula, 180English short title catalogue books (1475–1800), including twenty-fiveSTC and fiftyWing books. Further, there are 320 volumes that were printed in continental Europe during the sixteenth century, and another 260 items which date from the 17th and 18th centuries.[81]
The National Library has a collection of about 250incunabula, which are predominantly German, Italian and French imprints.[13] Sixty-six of the incunabula, including seven different editions of theRoman de la Rose,[13] with the accepted first edition among them,[82] are part of Francis William Bourdillon's collection that was purchased by the Library in 1922. At least three of the incunabula acquired from Bourdillon's library are not known in any other copy: aQuatre fils Aymon, aDestruction de Jerusalem, and aVie de Ste. Catherine.[82]Sir Charles Thomas-Stanford presented or bequeathed eighteen incunabula in total, half of which were printed in Germany.[30]
Three examples of early English printing were donated to the Library by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies of Gregynog in 1921. Two of these books were printed byWilliam Caxton:Speculum Vitae Christi of 1488, and the copy ofRanulf Higden'sPolychronicon (1482) that had previously been the property of Higden's Monastery, St. Werburgh's Abbey at Chester. The third is another copy of the Polychronicon, printed by Caxton's successorWynkyn de Worde in 1495.[30] Nine specimens of early printed books (three German, five Italian and one printed in Ghent) were deposited by Lord Harlech between 1938 and 1941.[82] Other notable incunabula in the Library are theAstronomica byMarcus Manilius (1474) with illuminated initials and borders, andHartmann Schedel'sLiber Chronicarum (1493).[13]
During the time that the incunabula expert, Dr. Victor Scholderer, Deputy-Keeper in the Department of Printed Books at the British Museum, spent in Aberystwyth during the Second World War, he took an interest in the National Library's small collection of fifteenth-century printed books and produced aHand-list of incunabula that was published as a supplement to theNational Library of Wales Journal. The hand-list and its addenda and corrigenda describes 129 books, mostly printed in Germany, Italy and France, although examples from the Netherlands and England were also listed. Scholderer noted that some of the forty-five books printed in France, particularly those in the vernacular, were very rare.[82]
There are approximately 2,500 sixteenth-century European imprints in the Library. Works from the leading scholar-printers of the early sixteenth-century are represented in the collection, which covers a broad array of subjects.[13][81] These includeJohann Froben (Basle),Jodocus Badius (Lyons and Paris),Robert Estienne (Paris) andAldus Manutius (Venice). Aldus Manutius of Venice, who is known for his dolphin and anchorprinter's device, was the finest of the Italian printers of this period and about a hundred examples of his works, known as Aldines, are in the National Library. The Library's also owns works from the sixteenth-century Antwerp press ofChristophe Plantin and his son-in-law,Balthasar Moretus, who published De Symbolis Heroicis (1634) with its title-page designed byPeter Paul Rubens.[13] The collection of French medieval romances and editions of theRoman de la rose from the library of F. W. Bourdillon and the Aldines, which are from the collection of J. Burleigh James, are important features.[81]
The National Library of Wales has one of the two copies of the 1539 edition of Miles Coverdale'sGreat Bible, that were printed on vellum and illuminated throughout. The other copy is in the library ofSt. John's College, Cambridge.[83]
The Library has a substantial private press collection, some 1,800 volumes in total, with representative examples from all of the important British presses.[81] The holdings of ordinary and special bindings of theGregynog Press books are comprehensive and along with the reference collection from Gregynog, form the core of the National Library's collection of private press editions.[13] However, the Library also has a complete set of theKelmscott Press publications that Sir John Williams collected, includingThe Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1896). The private press collection has been developed through further acquisitions by donation, purchase and legal deposit, and contains examples of the productions by theDoves Press,Ashendene Press and theRoxburghe Club.[30] Works from foreign presses have been collected and include many publications of theGrolier Club, the Bremer Presse edition of Luther's Bible (1926–1928) andEclogues of Virgil (1927) from the Cranach Press[81]
The National Library has many examples of books with fine bindings in its holdings. These include under-painted vellum, Victorian carved wood and papier-mâché bindings, French art nouveau bookbinding and bindings by Bernard C. Middleton and the Gregynog Press binder, George Fisher. In the late 1970s, the library acquired an archive recording the work of the Birdsall bindery, Northampton.[13]
Bourdillon's library includes books printed before 1600 in their original pigskin or stamped calf bindings and some examples of modern fine binding.[30]
Examples of fore-edge paintings that depict topographical scenes in Wales have been collected by the National Library, including a view of Conway Castle and Bridge on a 1795 copy ofThe Poetical Works of John Cunningham,[84] a rural view, stated to be Wales, painted on a 1795 edition of Milton'sParadise Lost bound by Edwards of Halifax, and an 1823 English-Welsh bilingual edition ofThe Book of Common Prayer with a double fore-edge painting of (1) Bangor and (2) Bangor Cathedral. Other locations in Wales include Barmouth and Neath Abbey, both painted on books published during the nineteenth century. The earliest volume with a fore-edge painting owned by the Library is the 1669 Book of Common Prayer with a depiction of the Crucifixion.[85]
The National Library's collection of works ascribed to Euclid contains more than 300 volumes, representing 270 editions,[81] and is considered to be an important reference point for Euclidean bibliographical studies.[13][86]The collection has been developed through additions to the initial thirty-nine volumes of early editions of theElements thatSir Charles Thomas-Stanford donated in 1927,[13][81] including further eleven volumes from Sir Charles in 1928.[81] With the subsequent additions the collection covers all of Euclid's works, includingData, Phaenomena, Optica andCatoptrica along with numerous editions of theElements, in many languages. There are two incunabula (Erhard Ratdolt, Venice, 1482 and Leonardus de Basilea & Gulielmus de Papia, Vicenza, 1491) in the collection, as well as seventy-three volumes from the sixteenth century, including the first English (Reynold Wolfe, London, 1551) and Arabic (Typographia Medicea, Rome, 1594) editions.[81][87]
The National Library of Wales is home to the largest collection of archival material in Wales.[2] Around 2,500 archives of various sizes have been collected since the library was founded.[88] These archives contain many different types of document, such as charters, estate records, correspondence, literary drafts and digital materials, which range from the medieval to contemporary periods. Many of the earlier archives are those of the landed gentry and their estates, which developed over many centuries, but these are supplemented by corporate archives including the Church of Wales archive and the archive of the Court of Great Sessions that the Library has received. The Library collects corporate archives, which are the records of institutions, societies and public bodies, and the personal archives of individuals who have played a significant role in the life of the nation. Personal archives contain a variety of material that is related to the life and work of notable individuals and families.[89] For example, the papers of Celtic scholarSir Idris Foster include correspondence, personal papers, scholarly and academic notes, and papers relating to organisations and societies, such as theHonourable Society of Cymmrodorion, the University of Wales and the Church in Wales.[90]
All materials concerning politics in Wales are kept in the Welsh Political Archive that the National Library established in 1983. This archive coordinates the collection of manuscript, printed and audiovisual records relating to the major political parties active in Wales, with the largest party archive being Plaid Cymru, and notable politicians including Lloyd George. The records of organisations including the Welsh National Council of the United Nations Association and the Association of Welsh Local Authorities also to be found in this archive, as are papers generated by the Parliament for Wales Campaign 1953–6, and several nationalist pressure groups.[54]
Some of the political archives cannot be accessed due to their embargo status.[54]
The Modern Literary Archives are home to the work of some of the most important Welsh poets and authors.[11][91] An insight into the creation of prose and poetry is provided by the letters, manuscript and typescript drafts,[11][91] notebooks, proofs and other personal papers of 20th and 21st century writers.[91] Archives belonging to Welsh-language authors,[11][91] Welsh authors writing in English[11][91] and literary organisations are deposited in the National Library.[91]
Papers and manuscripts belonging to Welsh authors who achieved their fame during the 20th century have been collected by the Library. The Archives of Welsh Authors include the work of authors, poets, playwrights, scholars, journalists andarchdruids of the Gorsedd. Significant holding from these archives include draft copies of novels:Cysgod y Cryman [The Shadow of the Sickle] byIslwyn Ffowc Elis,Y Stafell Ddirgel [The Secret Room] byMarion Eames andCyfres Rwdlan byAngharad Tomos;Saunders Lewis's letters, and the correspondence betweenRhydwen Williams andAlwyn D. Rees; the diaries ofCaradog Prichard andEuros Bowen; and, manuscript copies of poetry, such asY Mynach byGwenallt,Y Mynydd byT. H. Parry-Williams andCerddi'r Gaeaf byR. Williams Parry.[91] Parry-Williams and Williams Parry were both first cousins ofThomas Parry, the National Librarian.[92]
Dylan Thomas is the most prominent name amongst the Anglo-Welsh authors and the Library has a large collection of his papers. Other important items in the Archives of Welsh Writers in English are Raymond Williams' drafts of the novelsBorder Country andPeople of the Black Mountains and the papers of David Jones, which include draft copies ofIn Parenthesis andThe Anathemata.[91]
Prominent holdings in the Archives of Literary Organisations, Journals and Publishers are theNational Eisteddfod of Wales,BBC Wales, theWelsh Arts Council and theWelsh Academy.[91] The archive of the National Eisteddfod of Wales contains the central office records, compositions, adjudications and criticisms from 1886 onwards.[93] The Eisteddfod is a unique institution and an important part of the literary tradition of Wales that celebrates poetry, song and the Welsh language.[11] The substantial archive of BBC Wales includes radio drama scripts and talks by well-known authors.[91] A further collection of Welsh authors archives is available in the papers of the Welsh Arts Council.[91]
The Screen and Sound Archive[38] containsThe Life Story of David Lloyd George, a 1918 biographical film, which is thought to be the first feature-length biopic of a living politician. It was included on the UK Memory of the World Register in 2010.[44]
A 2001 documentary film,Against the Dying of the Light, was produced about the work of the Archive.[94]
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This extensive collection of estate and family records that was preserved atPenrice Castle in the possession of Miss Talbot of Margam contains manuscript material from the twelfth to nineteenth centuries. This includes theMargam Abbey archive which is one of the fullest surviving British monastic archives with charters from the period of the initial foundation of the Abbey at Pendar, its relocation to Margam, and the dissolution of the monastery.[95]
Along with the manuscripts are numerous seal impressions which are themselves of historic importance.[95] A collection of more than 30,000 seal impressions dating from the twelfth century onwards is preserved in the National Library of Wales, with examples including the seals of Welsh princes, ecclesiastic and papal seals, and in a variety of designs.[96]
The charter of the National Library of Wales states that pictures should be collected which portray places in Wales or people of Welsh background.[11][97] Images in a number of different media are collected including paintings, drawings, prints and digital formats.[97] The collection contains over 4000 framed paintings and drawings including paintings ofDolbadarn Castle and Aberdulais Mill byJ. M. W. Turner[11][98] and examples of the work of the landscape artistRichard Wilson,[11][98] who influenced Turner, and Wilson's pupil,Thomas Jones of Pencerrig.[98]
A set of original drawings of Welsh scenes thatThomas Rowlandson made during his 1797 tour of Wales with Henry Wigstead, and a set of original drawings of castles, abbeys and cities bySamuel and Nathaniel Buck were donated by Sir John Williams. The Library also has some two hundred original watercolour drawings of Welsh landscapes byJohn Warwick Smith, and collections of original drawings of Welsh interest byPhilip J. de Loutherbourg andS. H. Grimm. The collection of engraved prints illustrate a wide variety of Welsh topography and aspects of Welsh culture, and also show the development of the art of engraving. Every method of engraving is represented in the collection, which also contains examples of the work of famous engravers.[99]
There are around 15,000 Welsh portraits in various media and a further 50,000 photographs and negatives in the Library's collection.[97] Portraits include the National Library's main benefactors, Sir John Williams, Sir John Herbert Lewis, Lord Rendel, and Lord Davies of Llandinam;[99] prominent Welsh individuals including David Lloyd George andHwfa Môn; and, those by artists with a connection to Wales, such asHugh Hughes,William Roos andChristopher Williams.[97][99] Self-portraits by modern Welsh artists are also collected and include Keith Andrew,David Jones,Charles Tunnicliffe andKyffin Williams.[97] There are also many photographic portraits of Welsh individuals in the 1880s and 1890s that were taken byJohn Thomas.[99]
There is a large collection of the work ofKyffin Williams in the Library, which includes his paintings of north Wales, sketches and watercolours of the Welsh colony in Patagonia and caricature portraits.[11][98] Kyffin Williams bequeathed a significant part of his estate, including his own works and archives, to the National Library when he died in 2006.[100]
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The Library holds a collection of more than 800,000 photographs,[101] including the earliest-known photograph in Wales.[11] Thedaguerreotype ofMargam Castle, made by Reverend Calvert Richard Jones, dates from 1841.[11] Many other examples of photography from the 1840s and 1850s, such as the early Swansea photography of the Dillwyn Llewelyn family, are kept in the National Collection of Welsh Photographs. This collection also contains mounted portraits by high-street photographers, topographic views and portraits byJohn Thomas and scenic postcard photography byFrancis Frith that are connected to Wales.[101]
During his career as a photojournalist,Geoff Charles produced a photographic archive that records life in Wales from the 1930s until the 1970s. The Geoff Charles Photographic Collection is the largest individual collection in the Library with 120,000 negatives. This unique contribution to Welsh photography is being preserved and digitised with sponsorship from the Big Lottery Fund.[102]
There are over 1.5 million maps in the Library's collections.[103] There are maps on paper, parchment, cloth, wood, metal and digital media. These formats include a range of material such as globes, manuscript items, a 15th-century woodcut print, copper printing plates, carpet-sized map of Britain andOrdnance Survey digital data.[104]
The Ordnance Survey Maps Collection includes near-to-complete coverage for Wales, beginning with photocopies of the Ordnance Surveyor's drawings that formed the basis of the first edition of the one-inch-to-the-mile map which was published in 1818.[104]
The collection of antiquarian printed mapping is substantial and includes examples of Humphrey Llwyd'sCambriae typus (1574), the first printed map specifically of Wales, and the first county maps of Wales.[104] In 2000, Peter Bellwood stole at least fifty antique maps from the Library, which were sold to private collectors for £70,000. Arrested in 2004, he was jailed for four and a half years.[105][106]
A complete set oftithe maps, covering almost the whole of Wales, is housed in the National Library.[107][108] The Welsh Church Commission Collection, which, in 1944, was deposited in the Library,[108] includes the diocesan copies of the tithe maps that were transferred to the Commission in 1920 following thedisestablishment of the Church of Wales.[107][108] They are an important source for the study of mid-nineteenth century Wales and, therefore, are the most frequently used collection of maps and one of the most consulted categories of documents in the Library.[107] The Cynefin Project is digitising over 1100 tithe maps and transcribing the appointment documents to link them together. The project is planned for completion in September 2016.[109][needs update]
Other holdings in the maps collection include: manuscript estate maps, enclosure maps, estate sale catalogues, railway plans, architectural drawings, mining plans, and nautical and aeronautical charts.[104]
The National Library of Wales has published a series of books about its history and collections, including manuscript catalogues, a bibliography of Welsh publications, Parish Registers of Wales, and academic studies ofGwen John,Kyffin Williams and others. The Library also publishes theNational Library of Wales Journal.[citation needed]
Between 1909 and 1984, the Library publishedBibliotheca Celtica in fulfilment of the terms of its charter to keep a register of books printed in Welsh and other Celtic languages or relating to Wales and the Celtic nations. In 1985Bibliotheca Celtica was merged with theSubject Index to Welsh Periodicals to formA Bibliography of Wales (Llyfryddiaeth Cymru). In 1987, the retrospective bibliographyLibri Walliae: a catalogue of Welsh books and books printed in Wales 1546–1820 was published.[13]
Many of the most important manuscripts and books at the Library have been digitised and made freely available to view on the library's website in its "Digital Mirror".[110]
In April 2012, the Library made a policy decision not to claim ownership of copyright in digital reproductions. This meant that the rights information attached to digital representations of works would reflect the copyright status of the original (i.e., that originals in the public domain would remain in the public domain in their digital form). The Library has applied this policy to projects delivered since then (the Welsh Journals Online and Cymru1914) and is still in the process of updating rights information for its pre-2012 projects. Metadata are released into the public domain using the CC0 licence.[citation needed]
The Library has experience of sharing content from its collections under open content licences on platforms such as Wikipedia (e.g., theJohn Thomas photographic collection) and Flickr. In February 2013, the Library contributed 50 images relating to Monmouthshire to Wikipedia, a successful pilot project withWikimedia UK. The following month, they became one of the cultural heritage organisations that partnered withWikimedia Nederland, Wikimedia UK andWikimedia France, together withEuropeana, to be part of their collaboration to provide a set of tools to mass upload material from GLAM institutions to Wikimedia Commons. Also in 2013, the Library was awarded the Wikimedia UK 'GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) of the Year Award', for being "a reliable supporter of the Wikimedia movement aims". By January 2016 almost 8,000 images had been made available for free download.[111]
In January 2015, the Library, in partnership withWikimedia UK, appointed a full-timeWikipedian in Residence with the aim of developing further its resources on anopen licence for a worldwide audience.[112][113]
The "Cynefin: Mapping Wales' Sense of Place" project has created a unified tithe map of Wales by digitising over a thousand tithe maps.[108][109][114] Cynefin is a partnership between Archives Wales, the National Library of Wales and People's Collection Wales[109] that was launched in November 2014.[114] A valuable online tool for historical research is being produced by crowdsourcing the contributions of volunteers through the Cynefin website to transcribe the apportionment documents and link them to the digitised tithe maps.[114][115]
The Kyffin Williams Bequest Project was set up to catalogue and digitise the material that Kyffin Williams bequeathed to the National Library of Wales on his death in 2006. In addition to the collection of artwork, the bequest also included funds to cover this project. The cataloguing work began in 2008 and the digitisation started in 2009.[100]
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The National Library of Wales has digitised the back-numbers of 50 journals relating to Wales, in Welsh and English, in the Welsh Journals Online project funded byJisc. It forms the largest body of Welsh text on the Web, and as well as allowing free access for all to scholarly articles on history, literature and science, and poems and book reviews.OCR of the page scans was undertaken to createTEI searchable text versions. The website contains a total of 400,000 pages. It is intended to add new issues of the titles as they emerge from the embargo period agreed with the publisher.[116]
The fifty titles include:[117][118]
Welsh Newspapers Online is an open access database of Welsh regional newspapers that has been created from the National Library of Wales' collection of historical newspapers.[119][120] The database includes nearly 120 newspapers titles and provides access to over 1,100,000 pages from the years before 1919. Content relating to the First World War that has been digitised is also included in the database.[120] The following publications are included:[120]
