National Library of Wales owner of Peniarth Manuscripts
Library collections
The collections of the National Library of Wales include over 6.5 million printed volumes, including the first book printed in Welsh, Yny lhyvyr hwnn (1546). In addition to the printed book collections, there are about 25,000 manuscripts in the holdings. The archival collections at the Library include the Welsh Political Archive and National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales. The Library also keeps maps, photographs, paintings, topographical and landscape prints, periodicals and newspapers. In 2010, the Peniarth Manuscript collection and The Life Story of David Lloyd George were amongst the first ten inscriptions on the UK Memory of the World Register, a UNESCO record of documentary heritage of cultural significance.Collection development is focused on materials relating to the people of Wales, those in the Welsh language and resources for Celtic studies, but other materials are collected for the purposes of education and literary and scientific research. As a legal deposit library, the National Library is entitled to request a copy of every work published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This has allowed the Library to collect modern Welsh, Irish and Gaelic language books for its Celtic collection. The acquisition of material through legal deposit has been supplemented by purchases, international exchanges, donations and bequests.The Celtic collection includes works in all six Celtic languages. A representative collection of Scottish 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 Dr E. C. Quiggin, which was received in 1921, contained a large Irish collection and many early Breton books. Further Breton books have been purchased or were acquired in the libraries of Sir Edward Anwyl, Thomas Powel, Dr Thomas Gwynn Jones, Dr Paul Diverres and Llywarch Reynolds. The holdings of Cornish and Manx printed books include practically everything that has been published in those languages, with a few facsimiles.The Library's holdings can also be found in the European Library and Copac union catalogues.The Black Book of Carmarthen (c. 1250), the earliest manuscript in Welsh (Peniarth MS 1).
The Book of Taliesin (c. 1350–1400) contains the oldest Welsh verse by the sixth-century poet Taliesin (Peniarth MS 2).
The White Book of Rhydderch (c. 1350), a composite volume that contains the earliest version of the Mabinogion (Peniarth MS 4).
The earliest fragments of Branwen and Manawydan and two fragments of Geraint ap Erbin comprise the four parts of Peniarth MS 6.
Ystoryaeu Seint Greal (Tales of the Holy Grail), transcribed by Hywel Fychan around the year 1300, is the finest in a series of Romance manuscripts. A letter addressed to Lady Charlotte Guest concerning access to this text to have it copied is loose inside the volume (Peniarth MS 11).
The Chronicle of the Princes in Peniarth MS 20 (c. 1330) is one of the two main versions of Brut y Tywysogion, the other being the Red Book of Hergest, which is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
History of the Kings (Peniarth MS 23C), is a copy of Brut y Brenhinedd, the Welsh translation of the Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is a rare instance of an illustrated medieval Welsh manuscript.
The Laws of Hywel Dda (c. 1300–1350), the earliest extant text (in Latin) of native Welsh law (Peniarth MS 28). More than 50% of the manuscripts known to contain the laws of Hywel Dda are in the collections of the National Library, with the majority being in the Peniarth Collection (see the list of Welsh Law manuscripts).
Llyfr Du'r Waun (mid-13th century), also known as the Black Book of Chirk, the earliest Welsh text of the laws of Hywel Dda (Peniarth MS 29).
Peniarth 32 is a 15th-century volume of the laws of Hywel Dda.
The Peniarth 51 manuscript contains poetry, Welsh grammar, vocabularies, and historical triads that was written, mostly in the hand of Gwilym Tew, during the second half of the 15th century.
Barddoniaeth Hywel Dafi (c. 1483–1500), a volume of poetry most by and possibly in the hand of Howel Davi. Other poets included in this volume are Bedo Brwynllys, Dafydd Llwyd, Llywelyn ap Morgan, Dafydd ap Gwilym and Ieuan ap Howel. The assumption that this manuscript was written by Howel Davi is challenged by evidence, such as slips of the pen that occur in poems of Davi's composition, that suggest the scribe was copying these poems. With the exception of two sections (42 and 43), which are an attempt at transcription by an unskilled hand, the entire manuscript appears to be the work of one scribe (Peniarth MS 67).
Beunans Meriasek (The Life of St Meriasek) (1504), the earliest surviving manuscript in the Cornish language (Peniarth MS 105B). It is believed to have been completed in 1504 by Radolphus Ton, who was a canon during the final efflorescence of Cornish literature at Glasney College, Penryn. This play, which is set in Camborne, is a celebration of the life and work of St Meriasek that depicts the cultural links between Cornwall and Brittany. Beunans Meriasek was rediscovered by W. W. E. Wynne in the 1860s among the volumes from the Hengwrt Library that had been bequeathed to him in 1859. It is the most important extant Cornish manuscript.
Cywyddau and other poems, written in the hand of Lewys Glyn Cothi, comprise the manuscript Peniarth 109.
Esboniadau ar Gyfraith Hywel Dda (Peniarth MS 164), is a volume of commentaries on the Laws of Hywel Dda from the early 15th century.
Peniarth Manuscript 259B is a version of the Laws of Hywel Dda from the mid-16th century.
The Hengwrt Chaucer (c. 1400–1410), a folio volume of The Canterbury Tales, sometimes attributed to the scribe Adam Pinkhurst. One of the treasures of the National Library of Wales and by far the most important of the Peniarth Manuscripts in English (Peniarth MS 392D).
The 15th-century volume comprising Disticha Catonis, the Battles of Alexander the Great, and History of the Three Kings (Peniarth 481D), and the late 15th-century Vaux Passional (Peniarth 482), which was prepared for Henry VII, were acquired and deposited in the National Library by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies in 1921. These two fine illuminated manuscripts were retained by W. R. M. Wynne when he sold the Peniarth Manuscripts to Sir John Williams.
A bound volume containing books by Giovanni Battista Palatino and Ugo da Carpi, both notable Italian masters of the 16th century, which is assumed to have been owned by John Jones of Gellilyfdy (Peniarth MS 522).
Bede's De natura rerum (12th century), a copy of the scientific treatise in Latin that is believed to have been written in Wales. Contains decorative initials, including three that have a zoomorphic design similar to those found in Irish manuscripts from this time (Peniarth MS 540B).
Over forty manuscripts in the hand of John Jones of Gellilyfdy, embellished with initial capital letters and head- and tailpieces that demonstrate his calligraphic talent.