Sales catalogue: Quaritch

Date:: August 1874

Reference:: WA/HMM/CM/Sal/17/22

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue: Quaritch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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‘THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE LATE WILLIAM REES or LLANDOVERY, Offered at the prices affixed, by BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY, W. Lady Charlotte Guest's Mabinogion: Tus MABINOGION, orn ANCIENT ROMANCES OF WALES, from the Liyfr Coch o Hergest, and other ancient Welsh MSS. with an English translation and notes; by Lady Cuartorre Guzst. 3 vols. royal “8vo. facsimiles of MSS. and Vignettes, half morocco, uncut, £6. 6s 1838-49 gs Imperfect sets completed. The Tite copy fetched £7..10s, Lady Charlotte Guest's Mabinogion : L4RcE : PAPER, 3 vols. imperial 8vo. facsimiles and woodcuts, Eee morocco extra, gilt edges by Bedford, £14. 14s 1838-49 This I believe is the first Large Paper copy éver offered for sale. This valuable work has hitherto been extremely rare; a few copies have been discovered in Mr. Rees’ stock, hence the reduction in price. Lovers of Celtic Literature should hasten to secure a copy, as when these are sold the price will revert to the late high figure. “T hold every literature to be valuable, which springs from the heart of a people, and is connected with their warmest feelings; and I am inclined to believe, that there must be some particular charm in that literature, which has found such grace in ladies? eyes, as to attract those of one (Lady Charlotte Guest,) who is surrounded by so many other objects to court her atten- tion, and to spend a part of their lustre, in tracing the characters of half-faded manuscripts, in order to reproduce them for our instruction and amusement, in the most elegant form; and I may ’ surely venture to say, that if the Elzevirs, and Bodonis, and Didots, must hide their diminished heads before our Llandovery Printer, we may challenge a comparison with all the learned ladies, who have adorned the literature of Europe, for her, whose works his labours have contributed to embellish.”—Dr. Thirlwall, Bishop of St. David's. **T cannot quote the Mabinogion, without expressing a grateful sense of the obligations Lady © Charlotte Guest has conferred upon all lovers of our early literature, in her invaluable edition and translation of that interesting collection of British Romances. *__Sir B. Bulwer Lytton. “Three circumstances conspire to render Lady Charlotte Guest’s publication of The Mabi- nogion one of the most extraordinary productions of the day. Ist. The intrinsic merit of the Tales themselves, whether considered with reference to the light thrown by them on the manners, habits, and mythologies of the ancient Welsh, or as mere literary compositions—in which latter respect they may assuredly take rank with the best of their class in any country. 2nd. From the fact of an English Lady, born to rank, and nurtured in all the refinements and accomplishments of her age, devoting herself to, and successfully achieving a task which Celtic scholars, learned in antiquities, and imbued with all the nationality and enthusiasm for which they have ever been proverbial, had, for generations, shrunk from in despair—namely, the trans- lation and illustration of these strange and mysterious fictions; and, thirdly, the circumstance of the printing press of a hitherto obscure .Welsh town, 200 miles from London, being able to produce a work, which, for typographical elegance, may challenge comparison with the very choicest specimens of metropolitan art.”—The Cheltenham Looker-On. Y Gododin, a Poem on the Battle of Cattracth, by ANEURIN, a Welsh Bard of the sixth century,with an English translation, and Historical and critical annotations; by Joun Witirams, AB IrHEL, crown 8vo. cloth, 8s . 1852 Few copies remain for sale. The Gododin, the subject of which is the disastrous battle of Cattraeth, contains upwards of 900 lines, and is the oldest Welsh poem extant, having been written in the early part of the. sixth century. “