As today marks St David’s Day, I’m sure many of you – young and old – have dressed for the occasion, either by way of the increasingly popular Welsh rugby or football shirts, or the more traditional waistcoat and flat cap, or characteristic tall hat, apron and shawl that has come to embody our national dress. But what’s the history behind the traditional Welsh costume?
The costume is linked with Augusta Hall, Lady Llanover (also known by her bardic name, ‘Gwenynen Gwent’). She was an important patron and sponsor of folk culture in Wales during the nineteenth century, especially with regards to music and dance. She was born in Monmouthshire in 1802 and became an influential member of the Cymreigyddion y Fenni society, along with her friend Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc).
Today, she is primarily recognised for her image of the traditional Welsh costume. In her Eisteddfod-winning essay in 1834, ‘The Advantages resulting from the Preservation of the Welsh Language and National Costumes of Wales’, she argued that women in Wales should wear clothes made from traditional Welsh wool, as opposed to the cheaper cotton fabrics that were becoming increasingly popular at the time. It is possible that she commissioned a series of watercolours of women’s costumes from various parts of Wales, including Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire, in the volume Dull-wisgoedd Cymreig by Cadwaladr (1830) [NLW Drawing vol. 299].
Welsh Peasant Girl in the Costume of a large part of Gwent [NLW Drawing vol. 299]
Welsh Girl in the Costume of a Part of Gwent [NLW Drawing vol. 299]
Welsh Girl in the Costume of Cardiganshire [NLW Drawing 299]
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She tried to promote her vision of the Welsh dress, that included the typical hat, petticoat and bedgown, within her circle and beyond, but without much luck. Aside from forcing her servants in Llanover to dress in this way and compelling some of her closest acquaintances to do so also, it would appear that her efforts to popularise the dress on a larger scale were unsuccessful. It is debatable whether the evidence exists to support the common belief that she was responsible for its ‘invention’. Nonetheless, her version of the dress and perceived role in its popularity has become heavily linked with the story of Wales’ national costume and how it is recognised today.
The late Fred Wedlock remarked on a comic folk song, ‘There’s a bit where it changes every chorus; never mind, just guess’. The same could be said of the Pryse family of Gogerddan, whose surname changed with every generation during the nineteenth century. The source of the confusion lies with three members of the family:
Pryse Pryse (1774-1849)
Pryse Loveden (1815-1855)
Sir Pryse Pryse (1838-1906)
Those are the names by which the three individuals were known at the time of their respective deaths. The changes of surname during their lifetimes have flummoxed the most eminent of scholars. This article will attempt to disentangle them for once and for all, with the help of the family portraits.
Pryse Pryse (1774-1849)
The first Pryse Pryse (1774-1849) began life as Pryse Loveden. He was the son of Edward Loveden Loveden of Buscot Park and his wife, Margaret Pryse of Gogerddan. Upon succeeding to the Gogerddan estate after the death of his mother in 1798 Pryse Loveden adopted the surname and arms of Pryse. This was in accordance with the will of his grandfather, Lewis Pryse (d. 1779). The first portrait shows Pryse Pryse as a young man, wearing late eighteenth century fashion.
The second portrait represents a much older Pryse Pryse [aged 52]. John Steegman dates the image to March 1826, from the edition of the Morning Chronicle newspaper which the subject is holding.
Pryse Pryse (1774-1849) as a young man, wearing late eighteenth century fashion
Pryse Pryse (1774-1849), aged 52. John Steegman dates the image to March 1826.
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Pryse Loveden (1815-1855)
Pryse Loveden (1815-1855) was christened Pryse Pryse. He was the firstborn son of the elder Pryse Pryse and his second wife, Jane Cavallier. As the heir to Gogerddan and to his grandfather’s Buscot Park estate, this younger Pryse Pryse was entitled to bear the surname Loveden after his father’s death in 1849.
This first portrait shows Pryse Loveden as a young man in early Victorian clothing. Both Steegman and the NLW catalogue date the picture to 183.
The second picture, identified in the NLW catalogue as ‘Gentleman in Black Coat’ by J. Langton Barnard, 1856, represents a middle-aged Pryse Loveden. It just post-dates his death and may be a mourning portrait.
Pryse Loveden, 1815-1855 (1838)
'Gentleman in Black Coat’ by J. Langton Barnard, 1856
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Sir Pryse Pryse (1838-1906)
Sir Pryse Pryse (1838-1906) began life as Pryse Loveden, named after his father. His mother was Margaretta Jane Rice of Llwyn-y-brain, Carmarthenshire. This younger Pryse Loveden was still a minor when his father died intestate in 1855. By a grant from the Royal College of Arms in 1863 he was entitled to bear the surname and arms of Pryse, whereupon he was known as Pryse Pryse. He became Sir Pryse Pryse, first Baronet of the second creation in 1866. The photographic portrait shows Sir Pryse Pryse in 1868.
Lithograph of Sir Pryse Pryse by G.B. Black (1868)
Portrait of Sir Pryse Pryse by Julius Hare (c.1901)
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The second image is one of a pair by Julius Hare, portraying Sir Pryse Pryse and Lady Pryse, c. 1901. The Gogerddan tenants had contributed to the cost of the paintings.
Sir Pryse named his eldest son Pryse Pryse Pryse, who died prematurely from an infected fox bite in 1900. Such an unambiguous name should end the confusion, you would think, but check out the entry for Gogerddan in Francis Jones Historic Cardiganshire Homes and their Families…!
References
John Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, Volume II : South Wales (Cardiff : National Museum of Wales, 1962)
David T.R. Lewis, The Families of Gogerddan in Cardiganshire and Aberglasney in Carmarthenshire (David T.R Lewis/Y Lolfa, 2020)
Francis Jones, Historic Cardiganshire Homes and their Families (Brawdy Books, 2000)
Although our building is closed at the moment a great deal of work has continued behind the scenes and since June the following items and collections have been made available to view from home on the Library’s website and/or the catalogue:
Almost 10,000 images of personal papers and papers relating to the public offices of members of the Wynn family of Gwydir, Caernarfonshire have been made available. 2,786 items from the Sir John Williams Group, 1519-1683 (NLW MSS 463-470) and the Panton Group, 1515- [c. 1699] (NLW MSS 9051-9069) can be found in the catalogue.
Sir John Herbert Lewis Papers
8 diaries in the Sir John Herbert Lewis Papers from the period 1925-1933 are now available:
This year marks one hundred years since the birth of Marion Eames. She was born in Penbedw on 5 February 1921 and is remembered by many as the author of Y Stafell Ddirgel, a set text in secondary schools across Wales some years ago. It was her first novel. More information about her life and career can be found on the Dictionary of Welsh Biography.
The National Library is not only home to Marion Eames’ published works, but also a collection of sound and film recordings, photographs and a bronze bust of her likeness by the late John Meirion Morris (which can be seen on the Art UK website), along with a numerous other manuscripts and papers.
A selection of drafts of Seren Gaeth from the Papers Marion Eames. Note that one of the typescripts is titled ‘Hanna’, the name of the main character in the novel; although the author may have had other titles for the novel as suggested by the manuscript.
Among the first group of papers, received as a gift by Marion Eames in 1988, was a complete draft of Y Stafell Ddirgeland, following her death in 2007, the Library received a further deposit of her papers from her nephew. This later group included an early typescript of Seren Gaeth, a novel inspired by a quotation from the autobiography of Ernest Jones, husband of Morfydd Llwyn Owen, the talented composer who died at a young age. This typescript, however, is incomplete, which only includes chapters 1 to 8 – what a shame for anyone who came across the first half of the draft copy of the novel!
But, through careful collecting over the years, the Library has fortunately been able to add items to the archive. Among the items included in later years in 2016 and 2018, are the second half of the novel (chapters 9-15) and, more significantly perhaps, an early manuscript draft of the novel also.
Through perseverance and patience, the Library has ensured that a more complete archive has been preserved, giving us a more comprehensive picture of the career of a novelist who we remember fondly on the centenary of her birth.
While curating the ‘RECORD: Folk Protest and pop’ musical exhibition in 2018 we became aware that the stars of the show were the gig posters. Not only are they attractive and colorful items but they also record the history of the Welsh rock and pop scene. They answered all the questions about what, who, where, and when of the music scene. What were the bands called? Who were playing at the same gig? In which village hall was the gig held? Who organized the gigs? One of my favourite facts on the poster was the cost of the ticket eg £ 1.50 to see Jim O ‘Rouke and Meibion Mwnt at the Old Quarry Lampeter in 1984. Bargain!
Appeal for Welsh gig posters #poster2020 (NLW)
The appeal to collect gig posters was launched in February 2020. Over 200 posters have now been received, most of them online. I would like to thank the following for contributing to the national collection. It has been a pleasure to be in contact with you all during the campaign.
Dan Griffiths, Huw Bebb, Rhodri Davies, Dylan Lewis, Scotch Funeral, Sioned Edwards Eisteddfod, Catrin Morris Clwb Ifor Bach, Rhys Williams Caerdydd, Meirion Wyn Jones, Elizabeth Nerys Bowen, Almon, Efa Lois, Dylan a Neil, Mei Mac, Rhys Mwyn, Emma Daman Tomos, Hayley Jenney, Peter Roberts, Richard Chitty, Rwth Williams, Heledd Parri, Prys Dafydd, Non Jones, Laura Nunez, Blue Amber, Nyree Waters, and Rhiannon Roberts.
Rhys Mwyn, Radio Cymru
Radio Cymru’s Recordiau Rhys Mwyn programme has been a great advertisement and boost to the campaign. Listen again to this 9 minute clip where I describe 4 noteworthy posters including Tŷ Gwydr, 3 Hẃr Doeth, Bedlam Lampeter Eisteddfod and Manics at Clwb Ifor.
Poster Padarn Roc gan Meirion Wyn Jones / Padarn Roc poster by Meirion Wyn Jones
Padarn Roc poster by Meirion Wyn Jones
Graphic Designers
A number of posters came directly from the graphic designers, with highlights including 24 posters and 7 SAIN record covers from the 1970’s and 1980’s by Meirion Wyn Jones; and 27 posters by graphic designer Richard Chitty featuring Bubblewrap Collective Cardiff Christmas gigs 2013-2019 posters, and Sŵn Festival 2011-2019 posters. Some of the TAFWYL posters were received from artist Efa Lois; ‘Miri Madog’ posters by Bedwyr from Almonia, and ‘Allan yn y Fan’ band posters by Hayley Jenney. A gallery of Meirion Wyn Jones’ posters will be displayed on the NLW channel on AM Cymru.
Rhys Williams’ Fanzine Collection
This collection of fanzines was received from Rhys Caerdydd / Rhys Williams who was responsible for the website Fanzine Ynfytyn. The Library has archived the website and we have received the original paper copies of the fanzines for the national collection . The collection contains the following fanzines: Amser Siocled, Yn Syth o’r Rhewgell , Llmych / Chymll / Ychmll / Hymllc, Dyfodol Dyddiol, Ish, Groucho neu Marks, Llanast, Rhech, Gwyn Erfyl yn y Glaw, Cen ar y Pen and ANKST 03.
Casgliad ffansîns Rhys Williams / Rhys Williams' fanzines collection
Cofio Gigs ? (Remember gigs?)
Join us in this event to mark Welsh Language Music Day 2021 as Nia Mai Daniel (The Welsh Music Archive) looks back on the appeal and chats about organising gigs, designing gig posters and collecting fanzines with Rhys Mwyn (Radio Cymru), the artist Efa Lois and fanzine collector Rhys Williams.
A century ago, on Wednesday 26 January 1921, one of the worst railway accidents in Welsh history occurred. Thirty-six people were injured and 17 were killed in the head-on collision on the Cambrian Railways’ main line between Newtown and Abermule in Montgomeryshire. The accident was reported across the world and a number of changes to safety systems and working practices came about as a result. The disaster has been a case study in a number of books on railway safety, including Red for Danger by L. T. C. Rolt, which traces improvements in railway safety from the start of the 19th century to the 1960s.
The railway line across mid-Wales was a single track, used by trains travelling in both directions. A complex signalling system ensured that goods and passengers moved efficiently and that trains passed each other safely at stations with additional tracks. Train drivers were required to carry special metal tablets which gave them authority to travel on each section of the single track. At each station where trains could pass each other, there were machines which issued the metal tablets and ensured that only one tablet for each section of the line could be taken out at any one time. This made sure that there could only be one train on any section of single track at any one time.
Royal train passing through Abermule station (Llyfr Ffoto J D K Lloyd Album 33, NLW: https://viewer.library.wales/4826270)
The primary cause of the Abermule disaster was that the staff at Abermule station didn’t follow the rules about handling the tablet. As a result, the drivers of two trains thought they had authority to the travel along the same stretch of line. The express train from Aberystwyth left Newtown for Abermule carrying the correct tablet while the local train, which was headed towards Aberystwyth, entered the same single line section carrying the tablet for the line between Montgomery and Abermule. Neither the driver or the fireman of the local train checked that the tablet they had was the correct one – with disastrous results.
There are many documents in the Library related to the accident. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 restrictions, they’re not available to access at present but there are many digital resources which tell the story of the accident, the investigation, and those involved that can be used from home.
The official report into the accident, written by the railways inspector Col. Pringle, is kept with the Parliamentary papers in the Library. The 28 pages are full of details and show the depth of the investigation. A digital copy is available from the Railways Archive, and of course Hansard notes the various questions raised in the House of Commons.
The Library has a connection with the Abermule disaster through Lord Davies of Llandinam. He was involved in establishing the Library, donated land for the building and served as its president from 1927, and was chairman of the Cambrian Railways Company at the time of the accident. His papers, which are held at the Library, contain his correspondence from the period and papers related to his various railway interests across Wales.
A century ago, newspapers were the primary means of finding our about the Abermule disaster. Modern communication technologies such as the web and digitisation mean we can browse those same reports from our homes today.
David Harries, one of the foremost Welsh composers of the 20th century, produced a varied and unique catalogue of works throughout his long career. Harries’ inspirations came mainly from his Welsh roots, and this is reflected in his compositions, which include aspects of Welsh poetry and folk melodies as well as referencing wider influences such as Greek mythology.
Harries was born in 1933, brought up in Pembrokeshire and studied music at the University College Wales, Aberystwyth, from which he graduated in 1954. He would later go on to teach at the Welsh College of Music of Drama where he became its Head of Composition in 1985, and he continued to write compositions into the 1990s. As early as the 1950s his chamber and instrumental work showcased a variety of musical influences, including his Opus 1, ‘Introduction (Quasi Notturno) and Allegro Scherzoso for String Quintet’ (1952) which incorporated the traditional Welsh folk melodies Hun Gwenllian and Hela’r ‘Sgyfarnog. His interest in history and mythology is also apparent in these earlier compositions, with his Opus 3, ‘Incidental Music to Antigone’ (1953) being based on the 1944 play Antigone by Jean Anouilh, an adaptation of the work of Sophocles.
As well as instrumental scores, Harries also wrote a number of works for voice and piano, many of which were composed as interpretations of poems. In particular, 20th-century Anglo-Welsh poets feature in his work. His Opus 10, ‘Canticle for Voice and Piano: Words by Twentieth Century Anglo-Welsh Poets’ (1956-1961) includes melodies based on words from, among others, Dylan Thomas’ ‘Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed’ and R. S. Thomas’ ‘When I was a Child’. This poetic interest appears to have endured throughout Harries’ career, but he did not only use the words of Welsh poets. The works of the late 19th/early 20th-century Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore were used in his Opus 65, ‘Gitanjali Song Offerings: Six Poems of Rabindranath Tagore for Soprano & Chamber Orchestra’ (1993).
But possibly the most engaging of Harries’ works are those that bring medieval elements to life. The collection contains many pieces composed for a full orchestra, but the most prominent of them is his epic orchestral score Opus 48, ‘Princes of Gwynedd: Symphonic Impressions’, commissioned for the National Eisteddfod of Wales, Caernarfon in 1979. A note included with the collection explains that the work is arranged in four movements to convey a musical impression of four medieval princes of Gwynedd: Maelgwn Gwynedd (d. 547); Cadwaladr Fendigaid (d. 664); Owain Gwynedd (d. 1170); and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (d. 1282). As inspiration, Harries used quotations from near-contemporary medieval writers and poets to construct each piece, including works by Gildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Gwalchmai ap Meilyr, and Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch. This imaginative use of medieval texts brings these ancient princes to life in a unique and creative way.
Illustration of Maelgwn Gwynedd in the Welsh medieval manuscript 'Brut y Brenhinedd' (NLW Peniarth MS 23, late 15th cent.-early 16th cent.)
Creativity runs throughout the pages of Harries’ compositions, not least due to his writing style. His drafts of scores are dotted with scribbles, notes, and doodles which often illustrate a musical point – one of the manuscripts for Opus 48 (David Harries Music Manuscripts, 5/3), for example, is decorated with a sketch of a howling wolf, signaling the end of the piece.
The music manuscripts of David Harries show creativity and breadth of composition across five decades. Perhaps above all, the collection shows how influences and inspirations from Welsh literature can be used to create musical pieces of art.
Congratulations to Rhys Iorwerth on winning the Michael Marks Poetry in a Celtic Language Award. He was awarded the prize on Monday the 14 December, during a virtual event from the British Library in London – and several other places – for his pamphlet carthen denau.
Though the Michael Marks Poetry Awards are well known in the English-publishing world this is only the second time that the Celtic language prize has been awarded. The Awards are sponsored by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust and the chair of the trust, Marina, Lady Marks is the one who’s idea it was to have an award for poetry in a Celtic language. The National Library of Wales are glad to be part of the organisation of this award.
Rhys Iorwerth, author of 'carthen denau'
The Welsh judge Dafydd Pritchard said of two of the volumes: ‘Dy Galon Ofalus/Your Careful Heart, by Elinor Wyn Reynolds, and carthen denau, by Rhys Iorwerth, were pamphlets of high quality both in terms of content and look. It is hoped that they will inspire more poets and publishers to publish more often in this exciting format. Rhys Iorwerth is a very worthy winner.
It’s great to see Y Stamp press coming to to the top once again this year. Are there any other pioneering poets or publishers who would like to venture into the world of poetry pamphlet publishing in the new year? Details of the 2020-21 competition will be available on the Wordsworth Trust website soon.
It is unlikely that a film promoting a hospital today would show you the boiler room or the septic tank (unless both had revolutionary green credentials) but both take pride of place, along with the local engineers, the X-ray department and the Llandinam maternity ward, in a c.1942 film appealing for funds for the Khasi Hills Welsh Mission Hospital at Shillong in eastern India.
If you would like to view Shillong Hospital (with the permission of the Presbyterian Church in Wales) please get in touch via enquiry@llgc.org.uk.
In similar vein, Cardiff Royal Infirmary – please give generously provides detailed footage of milking at the Pentrebane Dairy, St Fagans, which produces the Grade A milk supplied to the hospital. There are also shots of the hospital’s butchery, its soda water and ice producing plants and its bread-cutting and potato-peeling machines, all modern innovations in 1937 when the hospital was appealing for funds for a planned extension.
A scene from 'Cardiff Royal Infirmary - Please Give Generously' (1937)
The non-medical and the medical aspects of the hospitals receive equal attention, showing financial contributors where their money goes and emphasising how important modern facilities are – in every area – for patient and staff health and well-being.
But is pride in progress just pride before a fall? The global Covid pandemic, coinciding with the rise in right-wing extremism, climate change and Black Lives Matter protests, has led to a widespread re-examining of everything that may have been taken as a given for so long. The Archive’s films reflect the history of the times – geographic, economic, social and cultural – in which the footage was shot and so are as open to re-evaluation as anything else.
David Lloyd George, prime minister of Britain (1916-22), was all for modern, mechanical development and can be seen on his farm ‘Bron-y-de’ in Churt, Surrey, putting two enormous machines through their paces in 1938. Being a producer of honey and apples, he might have come to rue the kind of progress that such machines contributed to: industrial farming.
A scene from 'Rotatiller and Caterpillar Tractor, Oct. and Nov. 1938'
Cory’s “Motor Spirit” allowed the use of such heavy machinery and the rise in ownership of cars, and the promotional film Energy (1935) – with English and Spanish inter-titles – celebrates its collieries in south Wales and its oil refineries throughout the world. Cory’s fossil fuels made the industrialised world go round but the price for using such fuels is being paid today.
‘Small is beautiful’ has rarely been used as strapline for progress in the industrial world and the Archive holds many films that commemorate enormous feats of concreting, of steel making, of human ingenuity, of environmental desecration. Jack Howells’ film Mine Shaft Sinking follows the making of “a fascinating hole in the ground” – shaft 4 at Cynheidre Colliery, near Llanelli. The work is shown in detail and the commentary gives the extraordinary concreting statistics of the project.
If you would like to view Mine Shaft Sinking please get in touch via enquiry@llgc.org.uk.
The Queen is always in demand for the opening of such major industrial schemes. On 26th October 1962 she was in Llanwern, Newport, for the opening of Richard Thomas and Baldwins’ new Spencer Works, which was recorded in the film A Great Day. The Speech of Welcome from RTB refers to the removal of 40 miles of hedgerow, the use of 10 million bricks, the laying of 39 miles of railway track, the building of 27 miles of road. It sounds similar, but on a smaller scale, to the felling of ancient woodland and hedgerows and the loss of nature reserves and SSSIs for the HS2 development, which in itself only highlights what must have been the scale of environmental damage undertaken to provide us with the original UK rail network (which, like HS2, was initiated to serve business interests). The RTB representative does goes on to remark that, “in all this upheaval and hub-bub, wildfowl and swans have declined to desert the area and we are leaving a few ponds on the site for their especial enjoyment and our own pleasure.”
Like the Newport wildfowl and swans, hedgehogs are small and beautiful and in need of help. They are in decline in rural and urban areas for a variety of humankind-made reasons, so we are glad to have an enchanting record of one filmed by farmer Ion Trant, in Powys. It is seen curled up, in close-up, and encouraged to unfurl by the wafting of a boiled egg under its nose.
Glancing at many early maps, you might be forgiven for concluding that women have to take their clothes off to appear on a map. The usual representation of women on many maps is symbolic, with them forming part of the decorative cartouche surrounding the map’s title. However, continents and countries are frequently personified as women, often with roots in classical myths.
Philipp Clüver’s map of Europe, first published in 1647 in Amsterdam, appears in Johannes Buno’s Introductio in Universam Geographicum and is a good example. Europa sits on a plinth with a bull, an allusion to a Greek myth in which Europa, a Phoenician princess, is abducted and raped by Zeus, who appears in the form of a bull.
Europa on Philipp Clüver’s 1647 map of Europe in Johannes Buno’s Introductio in Universam Geographicum. (Atlas Ant. B005)
Often, however, the figures do not represent a specific person, mythological or historical. They are simply decorative or representative of a concept. Emanuel Bowen’s 1729 map of South Wales, for example, includes two women, one lounging at the base of the cartouche holding a cornucopia, representing fertility and abundance, along with gambolling cherubs. The mapmaker, a serious-looking male, holds the cartographical instruments.
Emanuel Bowen’s map of South Wales, 1729. (Roller Map A234)
Maps were also used to show male and female social or racial ‘types’, either as cartouche decorations or forming part of the frame of a regional map. These tended to be based more on stereotype and hearsay than reality, in line with European colonial attitudes, and their purpose may have been to demonstrate the alien nature of people in need of ‘civilisation’ by European domination.
The illustration below comes from The English Pilot (1755), one of the first English sea-atlases, the production of these previously having been dominated by the Dutch. It can be seen in the context of colonial jockeying for power in Asia and Africa and British imperialism.
The English Pilot, 1755. (Mervyn Pritchard 65)
Making the map
Jodocus Hondius, or Joost d’Hondt, was an engraver and publisher of maps, who worked in Amsterdam in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is particularly known for publishing copies of Gerardus Mercator’s atlas. If you have ever wondered why Greenland often looks as big as Africa on world maps, you can blame Mercator’s map projection, which is still used almost 500 years after it was developed. He was also the first to use the term ‘atlas’ (another classical reference) to describe a book of maps.
The NLW holds a several copies of Mercator’s atlas printed in Hondius’s workshop, including this one from 1619.
Mercator’s atlas, printed in Hondius’s workshop, 1619. (Mervyn Pritchard 16a)
The title page is adorned with female personifications of continents, in varying states of nakedness. While Europa and Asia are relatively well-dressed, those continents who were regarded in the 17th century as ‘savage’ are noticeably more naked — including ‘Peruana’, representing South America, and ‘Magalanica’, representing the mythical ‘southern continent’, Terra Australis, that was thought to exist far to the south.
The dog with the globe was the symbol of the Hondius workshop. The Latin motto ‘Excusum sub cane vigilanti’ means ‘printed under the watchful hound’ — a play on the name of Hondius.
Jodocus Hondius died in 1612, and his widow, Coletta van den Keere, herself from a printing family, took over the business. She published several editions of Mercator’s atlas, including the 1619 copy in the NLW. Her name does not appear anywhere on the title page, as she maintained the ‘watchful hound’ branding and the trusted name of Jodocus Hondius on the maps she produced.
Map workshops in the 16th and 17th century were often family affairs. Printing plates and knowledge of techniques were passed down through families, which meant that marriages were often made within the printing world, as in the case of Coletta van den Keere and Jodocus Hondius. As well as running workshops, women took part in the manufacturing process too.
One of the tasks often undertaken by female artists was colouring. Printing was mainly a black-and-white affair until the 20th century, which meant that any colour had to be added afterwards, by hand, to individual copies of maps.
Abraham Ortelius is credited with creating the first modern atlas in 1570, although he called it Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, or ‘Theatre of the World’, not an atlas — as we have seen, Mercator came up with the term ‘atlas’ in 1595. The original version of Theatrum contained 53 maps, with more added in subsequent editions. Abraham’s two sisters, Elizabeth and Anna, worked as colourists and both coloured copies of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
Map of the Kingdom of Naples from Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, unusually oriented with north east at the top. This edition 1595 (NLW Folio 79)
Colourists were not generally credited anywhere on the final work. They were seen as merely filling in the lines created by the real artist, although good colourists were sought after. So we do not know who coloured the maps in our copy: Anna, or Elizabeth, or other unnamed colourists. We do know that women were closely involved in the production of copies like it.
Show me the money: buying, owning, giving
Many printed maps were paid for by an early form of crowdfunding: subscription. Subscribers signed up for copies of the map, and paid in advance. The advance then paid for the production of the map. Maps and atlases funded like this often include a list of subscribers, so we can identify people who were willing to invest to ensure publication — and to own a copy themselves.
Subscribers to John Evans’s 1795 map of the Six Counties of North Wales. 280 people are listed, among them seven women, highlighted in yellow. (MAP 3440)
John Evans’s map of the Six Counties of North Wales was one such map, and the NLW holds both a copy of the map and the list of its subscribers. 280 people are listed, including seven women:
The Right Honorable Lady Eleanor Butler, 2 copies
Miss Brown, Oswestry, Shropshire
The Right Honorable The Dowager Lady Dacre
Lady Glynne, Broad Lane, Flintshire
Miss Owen, Penrhôs, Montgomeryshire
The Honorable Miss Ponsonby, 2 copies
The Dowager Lady Williams Wynne
Only 24 subscribers requested multiple copies of the map, including two women, Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby. There are relatively few other private citizens requesting multiple copies. Many of the other purchasers are listed in an official capacity (e.g. ‘Mr. Sandford, Bookseller’, ‘Mr. Faden, Geographer to His Majesty’).
Eleanor Butler, who grew up in Kilkenny Castle, and Sarah Ponsonby lived together in a gothic mansion in Llangollen for 50 years, after leaving Ireland to maintain their relationship and escape a convent and conventional marriage respectively. They came to be called the Ladies of Llangollen, and were well known for their unusual living arrangement, which attracted an array of visitors, including writers Anna Seward, William Wordsworth and Lord Byron, industrialist Josiah Wedgewood (who also subscribed to the Evans map), novelist Caroline Lamb and diarist Anne Lister (the inspiration for the BBC series Gentleman Jack). Rumours circulated at the time that they were in a sexual relationship and they were frequently reported as wearing men’s clothes.
The NLW holds a famous portrait of the Ladies of Llangollen, created in the 1870s, after their deaths. They refused to have portraits painted of themselves in their lifetimes. This image is based on a surreptitious sketch of their faces made by a visitor, Mary Parker. The rest of the image is entirely imagined.
The Rt. Honble. Lady Eleanor Butler & Miss Ponsonby, "The Ladies of Llangollen", by James Henry Lynch, 1870s.
Women also owned land that cartographers and surveyors mapped. The NLW holds a large collection of estate maps, dating from the 16th to the 20th century, with most surveys undertaken in the late 18th century. They were usually commissioned by the landowner, and were intended to be working reference documents, as well as to show off the extent of the estates. The maps usually come with keys to land use and field names. Depending on the size of the estate they might be large volumes, with pages and pages of large scale maps of different parts of the estate.
Abernant yr Arian, Cymbrwyno &c., owned by Mrs Margaret Pryse. (Folios 59v and 60r, MS Map Volume 37)
As the map books were intended as status symbols as well as working documents, they often include decorative title pages to identify the owner of the estate. One such landowner was Margaret Pryse, whose estate of Gogerddan (or Gogerthan) near Aberystwyth was surveyed by Thomas Lewis in 1790, at the peak of estate mapping. The Pryse family owned the estate from the 16th century until the 1950s, when it was sold to the Forestry Commission and Aberystwyth University (then University College of Wales Aberystwyth). Margaret Pryse inherited the estate from her father in 1779. At the time, this covered around 30,000 acres (nearly 50 square miles).
Title page, Maps of the Gogerthan Estate in the several counties of Cardigan and Montgomery, the property of Mrs Margt. Pryse, 1790. (MS Map Volume 37)
Margaret Pryse, painted in oil on ivory between 1780 and 1799 by William de Grimaldi.
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As well as highly decorated title pages, we can also find traces of women’s ownership of maps in handwritten inscriptions on maps and atlases. It is fairly common to find bookplates or names written inside the covers of books and atlases, and sometimes multiple phases of ownership can be identified.
In a copy of Johann David Köhler’s Atlas manualis scholasticus et itinerarius, published in Nuremberg in 1724, we find a note: ‘The gift of Mrs. Anne Lewis to John Byrne Junior 1786’.
Inscription in Io. Davidis Koeleri hist. et polit. pp. Altdorfini atlas manualis scholasticus et itinerarius complectens novae geographiae tabulas L cum gratia et pprivilegio sacrae Caesarae maiestatis, 1724. (ATLAS Ant. B012)
We don’t know whether Anne bought the atlas specially for John, or whether she was passing on something she had owned and used herself. But we do know from this inscription that she was engaging with geographical knowledge and encouraging its study.
There are many more women to be found in the map collection, both visible in the catalogue, like Margaret Pryse, and less so, like Coletta van den Keere and Anne Lewis. This blog post is intended as a tour of places to look, rather than an exhaustive list.
A note on defining women
I have written both about people who are well known and people we know nothing about beyond their name. I have taken as ‘women’ those who have traditionally female names, but it is important to recognise that we cannot know how all of these people defined themselves.
Hudson, Alice and Mary Ritzlin (2000). ‘Preliminary checklist of pre-twentieth-century women in cartography’, Cartographia, Volume 37, Number 3, pages 3-8
A blog about the work and collections of the National Library of Wales.
Due to the more personal nature of blogs it is the Library's policy to publish postings in the original language only. An equal number of blog posts are published in both Welsh and English, but they are not the same postings. For a translation of the blog readers may wish to try facilities such as Google Translate.
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