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A small group of documents, 1636-1637, concerning the regulation of the manufacture and sale of copperas (ferrous sulphate), and silver mining in Cardiganshire.
They comprise: (i) a signed warrant of King Charles I to the Attorney General Sir John Bankes, received 17 July 1636, to conclude a contract between the king and English copperas makers to purchase copperas at an improved rate (f. 13); (ii) a petition to the king from Thomas Bushell, the mining entrepreneur, granted at Lindhurst, [Hampshire], 19 August 1637, asking to be granted the right to purchase copperas at a favourable price (f. 14); (iii) a further warrant from the king to Bankes, received 24 October 1637, mainly granting modifications to regulations relating to copperas to give Elizabeth, Dowager Viscountess Savage, a monopoly, but also requiring the removal of the provision for Bushell 'to have Copperis for our Mine in Wales at the former rate' (f. 15). Bushell intended to use copperas in a new process to extract silver from ore, however this process was to prove ineffective (see J. W. Gough, The Superlative Prodigall: A Life of Thomas Bushell (Bristol, 1932), p. 49). Bushell subsequently successfully petitioned the king to establish a branch of the royal mint at Aberystwyth to coin his silver, with himself as warden.

A letter, dated 10-11 July 1967, from the artist and writer David Jones, Harrow, to the novelist [Anthony] Powell, mainly discussing Welsh genealogy and history. Jones also refers to the anniversary of his involvement in the battle of Mametz Wood, 10-11 July 1916, the subject of part 7 of his poem In Parenthesis (London, 1937) (f. 16 verso).
The letter contains references to the recent 'David Jones Special Issue' of Agenda, 5.1-3 (Spring-Summer 1967), Powell's television producer and director son Tristram, with whom Jones was acquainted, Kenneth Jackson, Saunders Lewis, and Jones's knowledge of Welsh (all f. 16), and the Eliseg Pillar inscription (f. 16 recto-verso).

Seven letters, 1937-1964, from artist and writer David Jones, Harrow, to the Catholic author and editor Donald Attwater, in which he discusses In Parenthesis and The Anathemata (ff. 23, 24, 28 recto-verso, 29 verso, 32), Welsh history (ff. 24 verso, 27 recto-verso), Welsh place names (ff. 26 verso-27, 29 recto-verso, 30 recto-verso), Cornwall (ff. 29 verso, 30 verso), the Biblical place name Calvary or Golgotha (ff. 30 recto-verso), the attitude of the French authorities to the Breton language (ff. 31 recto-verso), and his inability to learn languages, in particular Welsh (ff. 25, 31 verso).

A contemporary, [?1917], manuscript translation into English of a circular letter, in Welsh, dated 5 March 1917, from David Lloyd George, 10 Downing Street, urging Welsh farmers to do all in their power to aid the war effort.
The letter was circulated (and published) in both English and Welsh versions (see NLW ex 1824 and NLW MS 9982E, f. 124, respectively). The present manuscript appears to be an entirely independent translation of the Welsh version as shown by the use of 'Welsh Farmers' in the final paragraph, translating the Welsh 'Amaethwyr Cymru', where the original English version reads 'The farmers of this country'.

A document, dated 8 October 1645, bearing the signature of the poet and philosopher Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury, acknowledging receipt of his 'weeklie allowance' of £10 from Thomas ffauconberge [Fauconberg or Fauconbridge], Esq., Receiver General of the Public Revenue.
The receipt also contains the signatures of two witnesses, including Matth[ew] Clay. Although Herbert had been granted a weekly pension of £20 by Parliament the previous February the present receipt is for only half that amount, possibly on account of a warrant of 6 June cited in the receipt.

Three letters, May 1861-December 1862, from Elihu Burritt, New Britain, Connecticut, to his friend and fellow peace campaigner Henry Richard [in London]. Burritt describes the effects of the American Civil War on the peace movement in America and on Burritt's own position, and gives details of his arrangements to leave New Britain in late 1862 (ff. 7-9).
In the final letter, 1 December 1862, Burritt thanks Richard for sending £15 to pay for his passage to England. He was due to sail from New York on the 13 December 1862; he returned to Birmingham to live from 1863 to 1869 (f. 9). Also included is a letter, 9 December 1846, from Burritt, Birmingham, to 'Dear Friend Featherstone' (f. 6).

Manuscript, [?1859], of the poem 'Last lines' by George Thomas (1786-1859) of Llandyssil, Montgomeryshire, probably in the hand of his son John Thomas of Bank, Llandyssil (f. 20 recto-verso), together with a printed copy of the poem, [?1859] (f. 21).
The manuscript contains two minor emendations in a different hand, possibly that of George Thomas himself (f. 20 verso). The poem is printed in full in Frazer Thomas, 'George Thomas of Llandyssil, 1786-1859', in Montgomeryshire Collections, 97 (2009), 101-121 (pp. 120-121).

A manuscript letter, [1785], from A[nna] M[aria] Bennet[t], [at Tooting, Surrey], to her former lover Admiral Sir Thomas Pye, Suffolk Street, [London], castigating him over his affair with another woman (ff. 1-2).
A transcript of the letter, [?late 20 cent], is also included (f. 3). Bennett describes herself as 'on the wrong side of forty' (f. 1), suggesting a birth date earlier than that given in biographical sources (see for instance The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature, ed. by Frederick Burwick, Nancy Moore Goslee and Diane Long Hoeveler (Chichester, 2012), p. 120: 'sometime between 1750 and 1760').

A letter, 19 April 1824 (watermark 1823), from [the Rev.] B[enjamin] Evans, Stockton[-on-Tees], to the Rev. Timothy Davis, Evesham, Worcestershire, son of the Rev. David Davis, Castell Hywel, concerning Evans's subscription to the forthcoming book by David Davis, Telyn Dewi (London, 1824).

Autograph letter, 4 January 1795, from Mary Morgan, Ely, to her publisher, [John] Stockdale, Piccadilly, concerning the forthcoming publication of her book, A Tour to Milford Haven in the Year 1791 (London: John Stockdale, 1795, ESTC T99699). Morgan expresses her disappointment at the intention to omit two hoped for engravings of the Sandleford estate and 'St Govin's Rocks' [St Govan's Head], while insisting on the inclusion of the letters relating to those places, and suggests limiting the print run to five hundred copies (ff. 33-recto-verso).
The address ('Mr Stockdale / Piccadilly / London') is on the conjugate leaf, f. 34 verso.

A collection of miscellaneous letters and papers, [?1610]-[?late 20 cent.], purchased or received by donation from various sources by the National Library of Wales during the period July 2013-May 2021 and boxed as one volume. A list of contents is included (f. i).

A manuscript copy, [1610x1650], of a petition by the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire seeking to be removed from the jurisdiction of the Council of Wales and the Marches; it formed part of a petition of grievances presented by a deputation of Members of Parliament to King James I at Whitehall on 7 July 1610, during negotiations concerning the Great Contract (f. 17 recto-verso).
It is probable that the original petition is now in Kew, The National Archives SP 14/56/part 2; a number of other manuscript copies are also known (see Proceedings in Parliament 1610, ed. by Elizabeth Read Foster, 2 vols (New Haven and London, 1966), II: The House of Commons, pp. 253-254). The text of the petition is printed in William Petyt, Jus Parliamentarium (London, 1739), pp. 330-331, and Foster, pp. 261-263. In the different sources the number of MPs attending the audience is variously given as twenty, seventeen and twelve (see Foster, p. 254); the preamble to the present manuscript states that the grievances were presented 'by Sir Francis Bacon and Twelve more of the lower house of Parliament' (f. 17).

A letter, 28 January 1968, from the poet R. S. Thomas, Aberdaron Vicarage, to Miss H. Thomas, Bangor, in which he discusses his work and opinions and the recurring figure of 'Iago Prytherch', evidently in response to specific questions from Miss Thomas.

Two letters from the social reformer Robert Owen, New Lanark, 14 November 1819 (f. 35), and [London], 11 [?December] 1819 (f. 36), to the lawyer William Tooke FRS, both seemingly referring to Owen's 'Plan to Improve the Condition of the Lower Classes', as unveiled at a meeting at Freemasons' Hall, London, the previous June, as well as personal matters.
Owen states his intention to 'act in complete unison with the principles I have patiently advocated' (f. 35), has sent copies of his address to the Prime Minister and others (f. 35) and has been busy lobbying members of parliament (f. 36). A debate on the plan in the House of Commons on 16 December came to nothing.

An autograph letter, 29 May 1813, from the Rev. Thomas Charles, Bala, to Joseph T[regelles] Price, Neath Abbey, concerning Charles's work preparing a new edition of the Welsh Bible for publication by the British and Foreign Bible Society (i.e. Y Bibl Cyssegr-lan, Sef yr Hen Destament a'r Newydd (London, 1814, Libri Walliae 401)) and his frustration at the relative paucity of Sunday Schools in South Wales, in particular Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and Breconshire.
The letter was printed in full in D. E. Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles, B.A., of Bala, 3 vols (Denbigh, 1908), III, pp. 476-478.

A letter, 17 August 1764, from Thomas Pennant, Downing, to his fellow naturalist [the Rev. William] Borlase, concerning Pennant's grief at the recent death of his first wife, a drawing [?of a lamprey] sent by Borlase, the receipt from a Mr Fleischer of Copenhagen of a Scandinavian collection of birds (see Thomas Pennant, British Zoology, 4 vols (London, 1768-1770), I, 134-135) and tips on the drawing of seals. There are also references to Sir J[ohn] St Aubyn, [4th baronet].

A petition, [June] 1844, from the landowners, tithe payers and parishioners of the parish of Byshopston [Bishopston], Glamorgan, to [Edward Copleston], Bishop of Llandaff, asking him to intervene in their dispute with the Tithe Commissioners concerning a compulsory award of tithe rent charge in the parish, thought by the petitioners to be excessively high. The petition is signed by eleven parishioners.
The Bishop of Llandaff was the patron of the living of Bishopston and also held the ecclesiastical manor of Bishopston.

Holograph working draft, [?1944], by Vernon Watkins of 'Memories', an English translation of Friederich Hölderlin's poem 'Andeken' (see for instance Friederich Hölderlin, Poems and Fragments, trans. by Michael Hamburger, 4th bilingual edn (London, 2004), pp. 576, 578).
The translation was first published in Life and Letters To-day, 44 (January 1945), 24-25, and was collected in Vernon Watkins, Selected Verse Translations (London, 1977), pp. 65-67. Ten of the poem's fifty-nine lines contain emendations by the author; the revised form corresponds exactly with the published version.