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Autobiography, apparently unpublished, of William Owen of Cardigan, 'The Birth, Life, Education and Transactions of Captn. William Owen the noted Smuggler ...', the original having been either written at Carmarthen gaol in 1747 by Owen himself whilst awaiting his execution for murder or dictated by him to the Reverend John Davies, prison chaplain, who has attested that he attended Owen during his confinement (f. 161). It contains an account of his personal life and of his smuggling exploits in the West Indies, in Ireland, and on the western coasts of Britain, with a transcript of his trial (pp. 119-60). The manuscript [watermark 1808] is apparently a copy in the hand of Daniel G. Matthias, whose name is inscribed inside the front cover with the date 12 January 1811. An account detailing expenditure on food and lodging, in a different hand, is found inside the back cover.

Three surviving folia of a lost manuscript in Middle English, written by a professional scribe during the first quarter of the fifteenth century, containing parts of the ‘Nun’s Priest’s Link' and 'Nun's Priest's Tale’ from Geoffrey Chaucer’s 'Canterbury Tales'. Textual contents: f. l recto, VII2784-2820 (B2, 3974-4010) and 'Here endeth the p(ro)loge and bygynneth the tale'; f. 1 verso, VII2822-2860 (B2, 4012-4050); f. 2 recto, VII3021-3058 (B2, 4211-4248); f. 2 verso, VII3060-3098 (B2, 4250-4288); f. 3 recto, VII3184-3222 (B2, 4374-4412); f. 3 verso, VII3223-3262 (B2, 4413-4452).
The folia were formerly tipped in at the back of a copy of Dr John Davies’s Antiquae Linguae Britannicae Dictionarium Duplex (1632). Linne R. Mooney has suggested that the Merthyr Fragment may be in the hand of Adam Pinkhurst; see Alexandra Gillespie and Daniel Wakelin (eds.), The Production of Books in England 1350-1500 (Cambridge, 2011), p. 199n.

A brief autobiography of Private Thomas Jeremiah of the 23rd Regiment of Royal Welch Fusiliers, possibly written soon after his discharge from the army in 1837 (see f. 74). The volume contains an account of his youth in the parish of Goetre, Monmouthshire, 1797-1812 (ff. 1 verso-8), of his life in the army in England and Belgium, 1812-1815 (ff. 8 verso-27 verso), of marching and foraging for victuals previous to the battle of Waterloo (ff. 27 verso-56) and a detailed account of the battle itself (ff. 56-73 verso).

Reminiscences of the First World War by H. Iorwerth Hughes, Liverpool, written shortly after the events described, commencing with an account of his journey from Southampton to Macedonia, followed by a brief account of army life on the Macedonian front, 1917-1918, including details of the battle of Mount Dobropolje against the Bulgarians, September 1918, together with notes on his journey home, 1919. The volume also contains an incomplete draft, written c. 1919, of an address in Welsh entitled 'Experiences with the Serbs' (ff. 24-8). A letter, 1917, in Welsh written by H. Iorwerth Hughes to his parents from Salonika has been filed separately (MS 22151iiE).

A letter, 1917, in Welsh written by H. Iorwerth Hughes to his parents from Salonika, whilst serving in the First World War.

Diary, 1915-1916, of Ethel Dora Heins (1886-1933) of Brecon, recording her service as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in Alexandria.
A photograph of Heins is on f. 26.

Over eighty letters in Welsh, 1862-1864, from Corporal John Griffith Jones (1843-1864; born at Penisa'r-waun, Caernarvonshire), 23rd Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers, to his family in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, relating his experiences as a soldier with the Union Army during the American Civil War (see Y Casglwr, 33 (1987), 13 and Y Cyfaill o'r Hen Wlad, 28 (1865), 27). Also included are five letters, 1862-1872, from his fellow soldiers to his family; two letters, 1863-1864, to him from his mother, Mary Jones, and his grandfather John Jones, Llanrug, Caernarvonshire; and two letters, 1860-1865, from his grandfather to his father Richard M. Jones. A photograph of Corporal Jones in uniform, purchased with the letters, has been transferred to the Department of Pictures and Maps and a reproduction placed with the letters.

Seven issues, May-December 1944, of a magazine entitled Cymro (issues 2, 3 (unfinished), a special Christmas edition and four Supplement editions), produced by members of the Cymric Club in Stalag IVB prisoner of war camp near Muhlberg, Germany, featuring articles on Welsh sport, Welsh legends and Welsh regiments, and reports on sporting events held in the camp; together with the only two issues, January 1945, of 20 Bees Buzz, a weekly newspaper produced by the inmates of Hut 20B, containing mainly camp news, especially sport and social events.

Journal of a tour in North Wales during the summer of 1772 by Miss Jinny Jenks of Enfield (who died aged 41 in 1778). This is one of the earliest examples of this type of literature.

A transcript of the diary, 26 July 1914-22 April 1916, of a soldier from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, serving with the Royal Engineers in the First World War, including a record of his experiences on active service in the Dardanelles.
On the basis of information supplied by Mr Gwyn Jenkins, Talybont, January 2012, the writer of the diary has been identified as Hubert Cole, a Sapper with the 1st Welsh Field Company Royal Engineers. He married Kate Eveline Webb at St Luke's Bayswater on 1 November 1914.

Letters, 1850-1864, mainly in Welsh and mostly from Henry Jones (1824-1852), 1850-1851, who emigrated to Holland Patent, New York, in 1850 (see Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd, 13.12 (December 1852)), and his sister, Mary Jones (1831-1861), c. 1855-1861, who emigrated to Ballarat, New South Wales, in 1856, addressed to members of their family in Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, Merionethshire. Also included (ff. 39-40) are verses by Mary Jones, entitled Hiraeth am Fy Ngwlad, printed after her death.

Some fifty letters, 1915-1918, in Welsh and English, to the Reverend Thomas Hughes (1868-1960), minister of Rhiw Calvinistic Methodist Church, Rhiwbryfdir, Blaenau Ffestiniog, co. Merioneth, from members serving with the armed forces in the First World War.

The diary, 1916-1917, of Edmund Davies, Dyffryn Ardudwy, Merionethshire, containing an account of his service with the 17th Royal Welch Fusiliers during the First World War.
The diary, which begins in April 1916, records postings in France including action in the trenches and ends in February 1917 when the diarist was injured at the Ypres Salient in Belgium. Papers connected with the diary have been filed separately (NLW MS 23060C).

Papers, 1916-1918, 1937, of Edmund Davies of Dyffryn Ardudwy, Merionethshire, relating to his service with the 17th Royal Welch Fusiliers during the First World War.
They include a notebook containing maps of places in France and Belgium connected with the fighting; correspondence with Edmund Davies's parents, informing them of the injuries sustained at the Ypres Salient in Belgium in February 1917 and including permits to allow them to visit him in hospital at Fermoy, Ireland; and a letter from the American Consul in Liverpool, 1937, advising Edmund Davies on possible American citizenship as he was born in Kansas City.

Brief for the defence in the case heard at the Carmarthenshire Assizes, July 1870, against Evan and Hannah Jacob of Llanfihangel-ar-arth, co. Carmarthen, for the manslaughter of their daughter, Sarah Jacob (1857-69), the 'Welsh Fasting Girl'; the brief includes transcripts of depositions by witnesses, taken before the magistrates at Llandysul, and of related correspondence.

Twelve letters, 1900-1902, from Edward Thomas to Sir Owen M. Edwards, his erstwhile tutor at Lincoln College, Oxford, written shortly after Thomas had left university, their main purpose being to ask for guidance in seeking employment; they also reflect his attachment to Wales and his interest in the Welsh language.

Some sixty letters and cards in Welsh, 1914-1916, from Captain David Jones of the 10th Battalion (1st Rhondda) Welch Regiment, killed in the offensive on Mametz Wood in July 1916. Written to his mother in Llanio, Cardiganshire, they include an account of his experiences on active service in France (ff. 1-95).
Also included are letters, 1916-1925, relating to the death of David Jones and other related papers, 1909-1966 (ff. 96-176). His printed military hymnbook, 1914 (ff. 177-215), and a copy of E. W. Wilcox, Poems of Hope (London, [?1915]) (ff. 216-311) are inside the back cover.

A volume containing a copy, 1669, in the hand of Thomas Rowlands, clerk, of 'History of the Gwydir Family' by Sir John Wynn (1553-1627), Gwydir, Caernarvonshire (ff. 2-84 verso). It is the earliest known dated copy of a recension of the work represented by thirteen other copies (see below). It is probably the manuscript belonging in 1674 to Morris Parry, rector of Llaneilian-yn-Rhos, Denbighshire, from which the copy in NLW MS 3075D was made, and the manuscript described by Angharad Llwyd as 'a quarto volume of Syr John Wynn's History of Gwydyr, Ancient, and in good preservation' which in 1828 was in the possession of Richard Lloyd Williams of Hafodwryd, Penmachno, Caernarvonshire, then residing at Llwyn, Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Denbighshire (see Transactions of the Cymmrodorion or Metropolitan Cambrian Institution, 2 (London, 1828), 44). Bound together are pedigrees and memoranda in several early-eighteenth century hands, including notes copied 'out of Penbedw MS' (NLW MS 3075D, p. 90), being transcripts of marginalia from 'Dr Humphreys's Copy' (Brogyntyn I.13, ff. 62 verso-3, 76) (ff. 85-6); a note on Meredith Wynn ap Evan ap Robert and his descendants (see also NLW MSS 27B, pp. 111-114, 16969B, pp. 128-132 and 21253D, ff. 27 verso-28 verso, where 'H. Bangor 1700' is given as the source) (ff. 89-91); pedigrees of the Wynn family of Gwydir and its collateral branches (ff. 86 verso-91, 95-98 verso); and 'Arfau pump brenhinllwyth Cymru' (f. 121 verso, inverted text).

Ten letters, 1918-19, from men serving with the armed forces in the First World War, expressing their gratitude for parcels sent by members of Bwlch Calvinistic Methodist church, Rhoslefain, co. Merioneth.

A volume containing Welsh poetry in free and strict metres, in the hand of David Evans (Dewi Dysul), Llandysul, Cardiganshire (see W. J. Davies, Hanes Plwyf Llandyssul (Llandysul, 1896, repr. 1992), pp. 253-5), mostly written by himself and relating to local events and personalities. Also included are diary entries, 1839-1872, relating to the weather and agricultural memoranda (ff. 70-81verso, inverted text).
The volume contains a Welsh carol, 1828 (ff. 1-2), Welsh poems sent as Valentines, 1850-1851 (ff. 13, 15, 33), a poem in praise of Llanover Hall, [1860s] (f. 52 verso), a poem in praise of John Hopkins (Ioan Glan Tees), 1863 (ff. 53 recto-verso), a Welsh metrical version of Mother Shipton's Prophecy, 1873 (f. 59), a poem on the death of the son of David Davies (Glan Cunllo), 1867 (f. 55 verso), and a chart of early-nineteenth century Welsh poets compiled by John William Thomas (Arfonwyson), [c. 1840] (f. 74 verso).