File NLW MS 23202B. - Humphrey Lhuyd's History of Wales

Identity area

Reference code

NLW MS 23202B.

Title

Humphrey Lhuyd's History of Wales

Date(s)

  • [16 cent., second ½] (Creation)

Level of description

File

Extent and medium

v, 171 ff. (original foliation 1-170; number 167 not used) ; 195 x 145 mm.

Binding, mid XIX cent., by Stamper; green morocco gilt, five raised bands with 'Caradoc. History of Wales. Autograph MS. by T. Powell.' in gold on spine; arms of the 4th duke of Newcastle stamped in gold on front cover.

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Archival history

Signature of Thomas Powell on f. 170 verso (cf. NLW Roll 11); signature of Charles Fairfax (1597-1673) on f. iii verso and 'Liber C Fairfax' on f. iv. Lot 1144 in the Clumber Sale, Sotheby's, 15 February 1938 (see also NLW MSS 11610D-11C, 11700E, 14699B-700A), and bought by the 12th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, whose armorial book-plate is inside front cover.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Sotheby's; London; Purchased at auction, lot 34; 14 December 1993.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

A volume, [16 cent., second ½], probably in the hand of Thomas Powell (d. 1588), Parc y Drewen, Whittington, co. Salop, containing a much shortened text of Humphrey Lhuyd's English version of Brut y Tywysogion, upon which version David Powel based his Historie of Cambria, now called Wales ... (London, 1584) (see Brut y Tywysogion ..., ed. by Thomas Jones (Cardiff, 1952), pp. xiv-xviii). Omissions mainly involve passages relating to events outside Wales, church affairs and the papacy, anecdotes, explanations of Welsh personal and place-names, and the arguments against Polydore Vergil. Three other copies are known: BL, MS Cotton Caligula A VI; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmolean Museum MS 847; and NLW, Llanstephan MS 177. Also included are a pedigree of the kings and princes of North Wales from Cadwaladr to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (ff. iv-v verso), a painted coat of arms of Cadwaladr (f. 1), and an index of personal and place-names (ff. 168-70 verso). Six lines of English verse are added in a contemporary hand on f. 171 verso.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Usual copyright laws apply.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

English.

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

The description is also available in Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IX (Aberystwyth, 2003).

Generated finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Title based on contents.

Note

Preferred citation: NLW MS 23202B

Alternative identifier(s)

Virtua system control number

vtls004629183

Access points

Place access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales

Rules and/or conventions used

Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

February 2009.

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Archivist's note

Description compiled by Bethan Ifans for the retrospective conversion project of NLW MSS.

Accession area