WYNNE, Ellis (1671-1734). Gweledigaetheu y bardd cwsc. [London]: E. Powell, 1703.

WYNNE, Ellis (1671-1734). Gweledigaetheu y bardd cwsc. [London]: E. Powell, 1703.

The exceptionally rare first edition of the greatest Welsh prose classic. It is an adaptation of Sir Roger L’Estrange’s English translation of Los Sueños (1627) by the Spanish satirist Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645). Wynne’s translation, however, brought the sins and the scenery of early 17th-century Spain up-to-date for his contemporary Welsh readers in a famously colloquial style. 'So thoroughly Cymricised is the Gweledigaetheu that it can to all intents and purposes be considered an original work' (Jenkins). RBH records no copy at auction since 1939. ESTC N17951; Jenkins, Bethan. Between Wales and England: Anglophone Welsh Writing of the Eighteenth Century (2017).

12mo (121 x 70mm). Woodcut device on title (some headlines and a few words just trimmed by the binder, occasional light finger-soiling, last leaf cropped into lower margin). Contemporary blindstamped sheep (rubbed, one flyleaf loose, a few chips with loss of leather). Provenance: David and John Davies (early inscriptions) – various early inscriptions and pen trials – later bookseller’s ink note on endpaper.

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