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A volume written by Edward Williams, 'Iolo Morganwg', and containing a copy of 'Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain' which is very similar to, but not identical with, the text published in 1829, pp. 1-171 (cf. I. A. Williams MS 33A). On the outside of the cover are the words 'Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain, (?) 1470, Rhol I . . .', and sewn in at the beginning are draft proposals for printing the work ('Cynnygiad i argraphu drwy gynhorthwy, Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain . . .'). The pages now numbered [v-viii] were written after the main body of the manuscript and contain a note concerning Sir Richard Bassett and his descendants, a list of 'Cyhydeddau Sion Dafydd Rhys', 'Cyhydeddau Simwnt Fychan', and 'Colofnau Cerdd Dafod', and a title-page for the edition of 'Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain' which was to have appeared in 1822; there are some later additions and interlineations elsewhere also in the volume. Both black ink and red ink have been used in the manuscript and pasted on to p. [x] is a line-engraving described as 'Y Coronog Faban' with the following note by Iolo Morganwg: 'Mr. Basire - "Too Good to have been by any known artist but Albert Durer", it is says he a "wood cut". Inside the back cover is a list, with page references, headed 'Rhai o'r Cynhwysiadau.'

Miscellaneous papers containing material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. The contents are extremely varied. The section now paginated 137-64 appears to have been originally a home-made booklet with the present pp. 137-8, 163-4 (bluish, rough paper) as covers. P. 137 is inscribed 'Catalogue of Books at London, May 20th 1794', and is followed (pp. 141-55) by a list of two hundred and sixty-seven books and (p. 157) a list of Welsh manuscripts including those described as 'Byrdew Trebryn' (? Llanover B. 1, now NLW MSS 13061-13062B), 'Barddoniaeth Sils ap Siôn' (? Llanover B. 6, now NLW MS 13068B), and 'Marchog Crwydrad' (? Llanover E. 1, now NLW MS 13163B) (As Edward Williams was in London during the period 1791-1795, if the identification of the three aforementioned manuscripts is correct, it is possible that the catalogue is of Williams's books and manuscripts). P. 165 is inscribed 'Hints for a short exposition of the Prophecies relating to Antichrist' and is followed (pp. 167-83) by a short theological exposition of ideas relating to the existence of a 'trinity of Antichristian Powers', viz. civil tyranny, ecclesiastical tyranny, and human philosophy, a conflict involving these powers, and the ultimate triumph of a ? Christian theocracy. Other items include pp. 23-8, a list of Welsh manuscripts and of Welsh and English books with the superscription 'Catalogue of the Books & MSS. in this Box, Jan. 24th 1802 sent 4 sets Walter's Dict'y for Mr. O. Jones 14 Nos. Do. Mr. Williams, Strand, viz. from 7 to 14 inclusive. Nos. 14 four Copies, 1 Copy No. 13'; 38, 95, 185, 187, 300, 304, occasional Welsh triads; 43-7, a list of Welsh proverbs or proverbial sayings with occasional annotations; 59-63, two lists of English and Welsh books headed 'Jan. 1818 Books at Merthyr' and 'On the Bench in the lock'd up little Room' (? the second a continuation of the first); 81, a list of the hundreds of Morgannwg; 83, a list of species of apples; 87-94., notes headed 'Subjects of new songs, odes, etc., by E[dward] W[illiams], 1791', giving ? the subjects or themes and sometimes one or more stanzas of sixty-four songs, etc., mainly English; 95, a brief note on Dafydd ap Gwilym and the 'cywydd' measure; 96-8, notes containing a bitter attack by Edw[ar]d Williams on Theo[philus] Jones's work A History of the County of Brecknock [1805-1809]; 107-10, meteorological notes headed 'Meteorology. Observations on the Weather By the Late Revd. W. Jones of Pluckley (Moore's Almanack improved, 1808)'; 185, 200, 244, 245, 247-8, transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg', Simwnt Fychan, Ednyfed Fychan, Thos. Lln. 'o Regoes', Ddd. Edward 'o Fargam', Jonathan Hughes, and Morgan Llywelyn 'o Gastell Nedd'; 190-91, an incomplete list of bards and musicians licensed at the 'eisteddfod' held at Caerwys [co. Flint], extracted from [Thomas] Pennant: A Tour [in Wales]; 207-16, extracts from various books of the Old Testament under the superscription 'Jewish Apostacy'; 249, a list of the subjects in literary competitions at an 'eisteddfod' ('Testuna'r Alban Elfed ar fynydd y Garth, 1798'); 255, 263, 265-6, 268-72, ? accounts in connection with mason's work done for various people, 1796-1808; 258, a list of 'Glam[organ] idioms'; and 301, a list of 'Graddau carennydd'. Also found are extracts from miscellaneous printed sources such as the New Annual Register, 1782 (Chinese hempseed), the Annual Register, 1772, the Crit[ical] Review, 1797 (a list of publications), and the Monthly Mag[azine], Nov. 1800 (the versification of Klopstock in his Messiah), groups or lists of Welsh words, extracts from the works of Welsh poets, and other miscellaneous items. Notes are found written on the verso or margins of a copy of a printed leaflet advertising a performance of 'King Henry 4th' to be given by the Young Gentlemen of Cardiff Academy in the town hall in Cardiff, 19 December 1806, copies of a printed leaflet containing proposals for publishing Edward Williams's two volumes of English verse Poems Lyric and Pastoral, and the cover of a copy of The Bee or Literary Weekly Intelligencer, vol. X, no. 5, 1792.

The collection consists of four groups, namely: a collection of manuscripts, [late 16 cent.]-[18 cent.], containing transcripts of Welsh poems and prose items being largely volumes of Glamorgan origin acquired by Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg) and forming part of his library (NLW MSS 13061-86); miscellaneous notebooks, papers, etc., of Iolo Morganwg, bound into eighty volumes (NLW MSS 13087-162); miscellaneous papers and correspondence of Cymdeithas Cymreigyddion y Fenni ('The Abergavenny Cymreigyddion Society'), 1836-1848 (NLW MSS 13182-5E); and miscellaneous other manuscripts (NLW MSS 13163-81). The second group (NLW MSS 13087-162) contains a mass of notes on matters of Welsh literary, historical, and antiquarian interest, transcripts of historical documents, transcripts of Welsh poems, series of triads, and prose compositions, and copies of original poems, essays, and reports by Iolo himself, etc. Amongst the historical and antiquarian material are items which Welsh scholars do not accept as authentic but which they regard as being spurious and the fruit of Iolo Morganwg's inventive mind. The literary material too has its quota of items regarded as forgeries, including Welsh poems written by Iolo Morganwg in imitation of the style of earlier poets and attributed by him to such poets. The accounts given of the contents of the manuscripts which belong to this second group are intended to be descriptive and not analytical and, except in the case of major 'forgeries' such as the chronicle 'Brut Aberpergwm' and the poems attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym, and a few other items such as letters attributed to the Rev. Edward Gamage, no attempt is made to include comments on the authenticity or spuriousness of the items noted. Many of the Welsh items contained in the volumes belonging to the second group were published with English translations and notes in Iolo Manuscripts: A Selection of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts in Prose and Verse from the Collection made by the late Edward Williams, ed. by Taliesin Williams (Llandovery, 1848) and Barddas; or, a Collection of Original Documents illustrative of the Theology, Wisdom, and Usages of the Bardo-Druidic System of the Isle of Britain, ed. by John Williams (Ab Ithel), 2 vols (Llandovery and London, 1862-1874).