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  • This booklet was published by the Great Western Railway Company in 1923 and is a reprint of a series of leaflets entitled 'The Line to Legend Land' which the company had previously published. The booklet brings together six Welsh and six Cornish legends, all of which are located in places served by the Great Western Railway. The six Welsh legends are shown on the following pages.
'Legend Land: Being a further collection of some of the Old Tales told in those Western Parts of Britain served by the Great Western Railway' (1923) [front cover, image 1 of 29]
  • Front cover of 'Y Greal Santaidd' (The Holy Grail) by E. Tegla Davies. This book was published by Hughes and Son, Wrexham, in 1922 and features illustrations by W. Mitford Davies.
E. Tegla Davies, 'Y Greal Santaidd' (1922) [front cover, image 1 of 8]
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 'Morte d'Arthur: a poem' (1933) [frontispiece, image 1 of 23]
  • At the Bangor National Eisteddfod of 1902, the Eisteddfod Chair was awarded to T. Gwynn Jones (1871-1949) for his 'awdl' 'Ymadawiad Arthur' (The Departure of Arthur). 'Ymadawiad Arthur' is considered a landmark poem in the history of twentieth-century Welsh literature, and was published in its final form in 1934.
T. Gwynn Jones, 'Ymadawiad Arthur a Cherddi Ereill' (1910) [title page, image 1 of 21]
  • The full title of this pamphlet is as follows: 'Most strange and true report of a monsterous fish, that appeared in the forme of a woman, from her waste upwards: seene in the sea by diuers men of good reputation, on the 17. of February last past 1603 neare Gybnanes poynt, in the parish of Pendine in the countie of Carmarthen' (1604). This unique pamphlet tells the story of an alleged sighting of a mermaid near Pendine in 1603. The creature was first seen by Thomas Raynold, a yeoman from Pendine, who then summoned others to keep watch for three hours. William Saunders of Pendine later examined Raynold and some of the other witnesses. Stories of mermaids were fairly common during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and there is even reference to a sighting in the journal of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) for 9 January 1493. It was believed that mermaids could save sailors from drowning but could also lure ships to their doom. Belief in mermaids, fairies and other mythical creatures persisted in many areas of Britain until the eighteenth century and sometimes even later. Gradually, however, opposition by the Protestant Church, greater levels of literacy, and industrialisation led to a demise of the belief in such creatures, although many stories have survived. It was the invention of the printing process in the fifteenth century and growing levels of literacy among the general population that spawned the trade of the pamphleteer. These tradesmen often printed their own pamphlets and sold them cheaply in the street for a few pence. The pamphlets were often of a religious or political nature. The general public also had a thirst for lighter and more entertaining fare and stories of strange creatures, monstrous births, etc. accounted for a significant portion of the pamphlets printed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Many such stories were printed as ballads which could be sung as a form of entertainment. Source: National Library of Wales
'A most strange and true report of a monsterous fish ... in the parish of Pendine in the countie of Carmarthen' (1604) [image 1 of 9]
  • The Folklore Academy based in Douglas, Isle of Man, published many works on folklore, magic and myth during the 1950s and 1960s. The format of this booklet was used to record folklore and traditions from many parts of the UK at that time.
'Tales and Traditions of Breconshire' edited by Stanley Jackson Coleman (1956) [title page, image 1 of 12]