A volume containing holograph manuscripts and letters of Richard Robert Jones ('Dic Aberdaron', 1780-1843) comprising portions of an autobiography and notes and letters containing much autobiographical material. Most of the letters, 1837-43, are written from poor lodging houses in Liverpool (many addresses, such as Chisenhale Street, located mainly in the Vauxhall Road area). They describe his misfortunes and deplorable living conditions and also his dreams. There are several references to his Welsh, Greek and Hebrew dictionary and attempts to get it published. A few of the letters, 1840 and 1841, are written from Caernarvon (to Mr Evan Griffith, a sailor, Waterloo Street). There is one letter, 1841, containing drawings and abuse addressed to Richard Robert Jones, Rose Court, No. 1 Chisenall [sic] Street, Liverpool. The other manuscripts include a short work entitled 'The ancient order of harps described according to Greek rules taken from Claudius Ptolemaius ... compared with the old harps of Great Britain by Richard Robert Jones ... of Aberdaron ... 1820', containing a drawing of a harp with descriptive notes in Greek, the text which describes the arrangement of various harps is also in Greek. The manuscript bears a note in pencil 'Presented to me by the writer R. J. at Llwynybrain 1827 St Geo A[rmstrong] W[illiams]'. There is another copy of the text and a similar description of the harp in note form, also in Greek, and a single sheet with a similar drawing of the harp and parallel texts in Latin and Greek of Luke X, 5-11, and an extract from Rabbinic teaching in English and Hebrew. The single sheet bears the note 'Richard Jones (Dic Aberdaron) 1820 - Given to me by Dic himself in the year 1827 St Geo A[rmstrong] Wms'. The other manuscripts consist of short notes, transcripts and translations, mainly in Latin, Greek, English and Hebrew, relating to the Greek and French calendar, 'Zoroastres the Prince of the Magi', the herb Hyoscyamus and its medical attributes, partly extracted from the works of Galen and Pliny, and an extract from [ ] Guerre de l'Amerique, Livre 3, pp. 27-8, relating to the Tories (Loyalists) (French, with an English translation), etc. There is a list, which includes most of the manuscripts, compiled by J. Glyn Davies, 19 November 1892, on which is written the following note by J. H. Davies: 'This list was drawn up by J. Glyn Davies when the MSS belonged to Mr. T. G. Williams I bought them from Mr. Williams & have added a few myself'. There are also letters (3) from Professor T. Witton Davies, 1915, to J. H. Davies, which refer to the manuscripts of 'Dic Aberdaron' and to a volume (Cwrtmawr 50(ii)) of press-cuttings relating to him which had been lent to the writer by J. H. Davies.
