''Yny lhyvyr hwnn'' (In this book) was the first book to be printed in the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...

. It was written by Sir John Price of

Brecon Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...

, a nobleman and secretary of the Council of Wales and the Marches. He was one of the most important Welsh manuscript collectors of his time, after the dissolution of the monasteries. The publication's main objective was to correct the lack of material, and specifically, the lack of religious material, available in the Welsh language. As ''Yny lhyvyr hwnn'' was a humanist venture with the aim to put into print the literary heritage of Wales, Price also included an ABC section and the first Welsh printed alphabet. A record of English, European and Welsh saints was added, as well as a monthly forecast for agricultural purposes. The last section of the pamphlet is a comprehensive religious text, approximating contemporary primer prayer books but sans the

canonical hours In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers. In ...

. These subjects dominated many early Welsh publications. ''Yny lhyvyr hwnn'' was printed in London by

Edward Whitchurch Edward Whitchurch (died 1561) was a London printer and publisher of Protestant works. Whitchurch jointly published the first complete version of the Bible in English in 1539. Other published works included the 1547 ', by William Baldwin, and the ...

in 1546. The National Library of Wales holds the only known copy. It was part of the foundation collection donated by Sir John Williams to the Library in 1908.

References

{{reflist Welsh literature Welsh books 16th-century books National Library of Wales collections

See also

References