Bible in Welsh, London, 1654, later calf gilt

Bible. Welsh

Y Bibl cyssegr-lan, sef yr Hen Destament a'r Newydd. London: James Flesher for Thomas Brewster, 1654

8vo (161 x 102mm.), each title-page within a narrow decorative border, nineteenth-century calf gilt in period style, cut close with a few leaves trimmed, Aa5 torn at foot without loss, light staining, upper joint weak, binding slightly rubbed

A reprint of the 1630 Welsh Bible printed by John Bill, but with the Apocrypha and Metrical Psalms omitted. The text was based on the first Welsh printed Bible of 1588, translated by William Morgan, and revised by Richard Parry, both of whom were bishops of St Asaph.

RARE. ESTC records six copies, and we have not been able to trace any recent auction records for this edition. Apparently 6,000 copies were printed, but they were presumably well-used and read as they represented a relatively affordable book when compared with the 1588 folio edition.

LITERATURE:

Darlow & Moule 9590; ESTC R30835 (listing 6 copies); Wing B2813A

PROVENANCE:

Gregory Parrott of Bedwell[t]y parish, Monmouthshire, early inscription on title-page; Robert Vaughan Hughes (1819-1901), of Wyelands (Monmouthshire), armorial bookplate