Welsh Journals

A Short, Plain help for Parents, edited with an introduction by Boyd Stanley Schlenther (National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1993, pp. 59, £ 7.50), consists of a reprint of a fascinating catechism of 1732, published by no less than Benjamin Franklin, and written by David Evans, an Independent minister from Pencader, Carmarthenshire, who emigrated to Pennsylvania around 1704. Dr. Schlenther's excellent introduction sets the work in full context. Another attractive booklet in the series published by the Glamorgan Record Office is Stephen J. Torode, Duffryn: An Edwardian Garden designed by Thomas H. Mawson, 1993, pp. 36, 32 coloured plates. The author, formerly head gardener at Duffryn, describes lucidly the designing of the gardens by Mawson for Reginald Cory from 1906 and its various botanical and other features. The booklet is available from the Record Office, County Hall, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF1 3NE, £ 3.95 or £ 4.50 by post. Denis Judd, Radical Joe: A Life of Joseph Chamberlain (University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1993, pp. xvi, 312, £ 12.95 paperback), is a welcome reissue of a good biography, originally published in 1977, which covers in readable fashion both the domestic and imperial aspects of its ever-fascinating subject's career. The bibliography has been updated. Llyfryddiaeth Cymru: A Bibliography of Wales, 1985-1986 (National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1993, pp. 427, £ 30.00) is the first of a series of biennial publications, covering monographs and periodicals, and recorded both under subject headings and authors' names. Joanna Martin, Henry and the Fairy Palace, Fox Talbot and Glamorgan (National Library of Wales Press, Aberystwyth, 1993, pp. 30, £ 3.75). A delightful study of the childhood of William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of modern photography, in the 'fairy palace' of Penrice on the Gower peninsula.