Welsh Journals

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The gypsies of this study seem to have been accepted and respectable. In Llafur, volume 5, number 4 (1991), Neil Evans describes briefly the prejudice and hostility shown to gypsies in Wales as elsewhere. The history of the less comfortable side of Welsh/gypsy relations has still to be written. STEPHEN ROBERTS Evesham WELSH STEAM: RAILWAY PHOTOGRAPHS AT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES. Bv Gwyn Briwnant-Jones. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1991. Pp. 90. £ 9.95. The publication of yet another album of photographs on the subject of Welsh steam railways seems at first sight a rather daunting prospect. However, closer inspection of Gwyn Briwnant-Jones's volume reveals an approach different from that adopted by the compilers of other volumes. In the first place, the ninety-five photographs which make up the volume are all drawn from the archives of the National Library of Wales. Some have been used previously in other publications, but the majority appear for the first time. Secondly, the compiler has approached his task from a different perspective. Gwyn Briwnant-Jones is a professional artist as well as a railway historian. The volume does, in fact, justify his claim of 'striking a balance in the selection of photographs between artistic interest and the historical significance of the subject matter'. The captions to the photographs draw out the artistic interest and offer an interesting social commentary as well as recording the historical scene. In this context the John Thomas collection is particularly illuminating as a record of life in north Wales during the period 1870-1900 and the significance of the railway to the scattered communities of that part of the principality. The majority of the photographs in this collection are brimming over with human interest. Briwnant-Jones has approached his task in a logical, geographical way. The disadvantage of this approach is that it reveals the deficiencies in the National Library of Wales collection. There is a more comprehensive survey of north and mid-Wales than there is of south Wales despite the fact that there was a greater concentration of railways in the latter area, simply because the collection is biased in this direction. Even in coverage of north Wales the Cambrian coast line receives scant attention. whilst the coverage of south-east Wales is perfunctory. The picture captions, and introductions to the sections, are well-written. The latter suffer slightly from over-simplification but this is inevitable in a volume of this nature which attempts to be comprehensive. Two minor inaccuracies of fact appear Photograph 78 shows Llandeilo station and refers to the GWR branch to Carmarthen leaving the Shrewsbury-Swansea LNWR line. In fact, the branch to Carmarthen was LNWR, and the line from Pontarddulais to Llandeilo on the main Shrewsbury to Swansea line belonged to the GWR, having been absorbed from the Llanelly Railway and Docks Company. In the introductory section to south-east Wales, reference is