Cwrtmawr manuscripts

About half the items that J. Gwenogvryn Evans described in his Report on the Cwrtmawr Manuscripts were acquired from Myrddin Fardd. Other manuscripts and letters are tied to poets and literati of the late-18th and 19th centuries, including David Thomas (Dafydd Ddu Eryri), Owen Williams (Owain Gwyrfai) and Ebenezer Thomas (Eben Fardd). There are many volume of letters that were published or received by Myrddin Fardd and over 150 volumes he compiled of Welsh literary and antiquarian interest.[3]

• 
  Myrddin Fardd
• 
  Eben Fardd
• 
  Owain Gwyrfai
• 
  Dafydd Ddu Eryri

This group of manuscripts is related to the Welsh clerical family headed by the Rev. Thomas Richards (1754–1837), including his five ordained sons and three daughters, who were involved in church and cultural movements. The group of some 100 volumes includes part of the Llansilin Manuscripts, which date from the 17th and 18th centuries. There is also a group of transcripts and memoranda gathered by Mary Richards (1787-1877). Letters to members of the family are dispersed throughout the Cwrtmawr collection.[3]

• 
  Richard Richards (1780–1860) and his granddaughter Elen Richards (1825–1864)
• 
  Mary (Mair) Richards (1787–1877)

This group is connected to the descendants of Rev. Peter Williams (1723–1796), and were primarily written or owned by Rev. Peter Bailey Williams (1763–1836) and Rev. St George Armstrong Williams (1804–1886). Some of the manuscripts, however, relate to the Rev. Peter Williams and his son, Rev. Eliezer Williams (1754–1820). There are manuscripts of literary and antiquarian interest in addition to the personal and family documents.[3]

The manuscripts belonging to Rev. Peter Bailey Williams were widely dispersed after he died and John Humphreys Davies acquired them from a number of sources. The provenance of some is uncertain, but it is known that Davies acquired manuscripts from Miss L. Armstrong Williams and J. Glyn Davies, and some are thought to have come from Myrddin Fardd.[3]

Ieuan Glan Geirionydd

The poet, printer, bookseller and bibliophile Gwilym Cowlyd (1828–1904) was the source of many of Davies's manuscripts and printed books, although there is uncertainty about the source of some, particularly Cwrtmawr Mss 33 and 42, which even Davies himself noted that he might have acquired from Gwilym Cowlyd. The group includes manuscripts personally connected with Gwilym Cowlyd and with his uncle, Rev. Evan Evans (Ieuan Glan Geirionydd), and also letters addressed to Gwilym Cowlyd and compilations of annotated press cuttings. There are a dozen manuscripts among them of David Evans, Llanrwst.[3]

Rev. Daniel Silvan Evans

The library of Rev. Daniel Silvan Evans (1818-1903), had been neglected for many years before Davies bought it from his son, J. H. Silvan Evans. Most of the manuscripts relate to the literary and scholarly activities, and the lexicographical work in particular of Daniel Silvan Evans, with those of Rev. Robert Roberts (Y Sgolor Mawr) being of special lexicographical interest. There are a number of volumes of letters addressed to Evans, by scholars and literary men including John Rhys.[3]