Welsh Journals

RECENT ACCESSIONS AT CARDIFF CENTRAL LIBRARY IN Volume I of these Transactions there appeared an article in Welsh by the late Emeritus Professor G. J. Williams on "Dyddiadur William Thomas o Lanfihangel-ar-Elai" (The Diary of William Thomas, Michaelston-super-Ely). The article was based on copious extracts hurriedly taken from the second volume of the original diary by David Jones of Wallington, and these extracts, which have been preserved among David Jones's manuscripts at Cardiff Central Library since 1938, were in them- selves more than sufficient to show what a remarkable record the diary was. Unfortunately, the first volume, which covered the period 1750-62, had disappeared by David Jones's day. When he was in the Cardiff area in 1888, he made numerous enquiries but failed to find any trace of the volume. Local historians of our own day have likewise had misgivings about the continued existence of the second and larger volume to which David Jones had access. Although it covered the period 1762-95 and con- tained 1296 pages, no one seemed to have consulted it because of its historical interest since June 1900, when an extract from it was embodied in a letter to the Barry Dock News. But all fears can now be dispelled, for the volume has recently been deposited at Cardiff Central Library. Photocopies are being made in order to save all unnecessary wear and tear on the unique document, and in due course they will be available in the Research Department for consultation by any bona fide student of local history. The publication of extracts from the volume or of articles based upon its contents will not be allowed without the permission of its depositor. Many entries in the diary show that William Thomas was greatly interested in Glamorgan genealogy, and from another source has come proof that he wrote up his own book of pedigrees, the original copy of which seems to have suffered the same fate as the first volume of his diary. By today we would have no knowledge of the book if William Mathew of Fairwater had not