NOTES AND QUERIES:
21 JftiMmn 0f
FOB
LITERARY MEN, GENERAL READERS, ETC.
" When found, make a note of." CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
No. 159. ngES] SATURDAY, JANUARY 12. 1907.
_ l y^y^ijggrggpgrftS:
JUST PUBLISHED.
Royal 8vo (pp. 180), printed on fine paper, with 10 Facsimiles of old Title-Pages and Letters, bound in buckram, price 8s. Qd. net.
THE BIBLE IN WALES.
A Study in the History of the Welsh People, with an Introductory Address by Sir John
Williams, and a Bibliography.
Edited by JOHN BALLINGER,
Librarian of the Cardiff Public Libraries.
For the centenary year of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1904, the Committee of the Cardiff Public Libraries decided to bring together for exhibition in the Reference Library as many editions as could be procured of the Scriptures in Welsh, or in other languages if printed in Wales. The proposal was enthusiastically approved, and loans from public and private collections were liberally offered, with the result that almost every edition of the Scriptures coming within the scope of the exhibition was obtained. The exhibition was open from March 1st to September 30th, 1904, and was visited by a large number of people.
A desire to permanently record the knowledge thus acquired led to the preparation of this volume. It was found that, while the editions up to 1800 had been frequently described (not always accurately), yet no account had been given of the issues of the nineteenth century. The work of collecting and verifying the information proved a lengthier task than was anticipated, and delayed the completion of the work.
The Edition is limited to six hundred copies, of which about four hundred and fifty have been taken by Subscribers.
The work includes a complete Bibliography of about 400 issues of the Scriptures in Welsh o r printed in Wales, and throws valuable new light upon the history of the Welsh people. It is illustrated with facsimiles from rare editions, and reproductions of documents never before printed.
From the SCOTSMAN, December 3rd : " This work, interesting to all Welshmen and bibliographers, has grown out of the exhibition of printed Scriptures in Welsh shown in the Cardiff Reference Library on the occasion of the centenary of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1904. A great many rare and curious volumes were brought together by the Librarian, Mr. John Ballinger, who prepared a Bibliography, with descriptive notes, as a permanent record of the collec- tion. To this has been added a historical survey, in which the early translators, the editions of the Psalter, and of the authorised and other versions of the Bible in Welsh, with other matters pertaining to the subject, are learnedly discussed. The essay becomes in short, as described in the title-page, " a study in the history of the Welsh people " ; while prefixed to it is the address of Sir John Williams in opening the exhibition, and following the Bibliography, lists of owners of volumes and of subscribers. It is noted that, the Bibliography having been first printed, the essay is to be regarded as containing the ' revised position,' where divergent statements are found in the two parts. The volume contains some fine reproductions of documents and of title-pages."
From the WESTERN MAIL, December 8th : " A book such as will delight the heart of Bible-loving Wales has just been published by Mr. John Ballinger, of the Cardiff Free Library. It is, in fact, the outcome of the Welsh Bible Exhibi- tion held at the free library during the centenary year of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The knowledge then acquired is permanently recorded in the present volume, and much material besides has been added during the two years that have intervened. The book is an authoritative history of the Welsh Bible, and will prove invaluable as a book of
reference to Welsh readers and students It is satisfactory to find that Mr. Ballinger has done justice to the great work
of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in Wales, chiefly in the eighteenth century, and also to those patriotic Welshmen in London and elsewhere who gave of their substance with a view to the publication and diffusion among their
countrymen of the Welsh Scriptures The illustrations are excellent, and some of them of great value to the student.
They include the title-page of the first Welsh Bible, 1588 ; a letter from Thomas Salesbury to Sir John Wynn, of Gwydir ; Queen Elizabeth's patent to William Salesbury, 1563, from the original in the British Museum ; a letter of Bishop Morgan's ' and several others. There is added a list of owners, which is of interest to the general public."
HENRY SOTHERAN & CO. Publishers, 140, Strand, W.C. ; and 37, Piccadilly, W.
