This book discusses the significance of Lhwyd’s discoveries in the fields of botany, palaeontology, epigraphy, antiquarian studies and linguistics. The book places Lhwyd’s contribution in the context of recent work in these fields. This book provides links to websites for readers to follow up for further study.

“…everyone’s got something to say with your mouth, even me…” A hyperactive, idiosyncratic and deeply personal journey into the mercurial Welsh poet-prophet figure of Taliesin, framed as a magical pilgrimage around Llyn Geirionydd in North Wales, evoking the lake and its waters as the bard’s own cauldron from which he continually emerges in different historical, mythical and fictional guises… “sometimes dreams are wiser than the waking…” Unfolding layers of meaning from the protohistorical cynfardd of the Old North to the ‘radiant brow’ of medieval legend, as well as Taliesin’s contemporary significance and links with other cultures, this crazed, garrulous exploration runs through the archetypal Celtic poet’s hall of mirrors with eccentric wit and blazing energy… “stand behind the cataract unbound, close my eyes: hear me, I speak...” Culminating in a wildly subjective, underwater encounter with Taloiastinos and the watis, two timeless and interrelated forerunners of the Taliesin mythos, and a forested fall into the mindset of the visionary poet who experiences no separation between self and other, this book is likely to be one of the most riddling, esoteric and obscure treatments of Taliesin ever released! “I am one who waits, says, I am one who watches, says, I am one who wanders off away, says…”

This book is a study of the print cultures of the four principal Celtic languages — Irish, Welsh, Gaelic and Breton — in the crucial period between 1700 and 1900. Over the past four centuries, the Celtic languages of northwest Europe have followed contrasting paths of maintenance and decline. This was despite their common lack of official recognition and use, and their common distance from the centres of political power. This volume analyses publishing, circulation and reading in the four languages, particularly at a popular level, showing the different levels of overall activity as well as the distinctions in the types of printed texts between regions. The approach is a broad one, considering all printed books down to very small cheap formats. It explores the interactions between the different regions and the continuation of print culture within diasporic communities. This volume will appeal to book historians, to scholars of the four languages and their literature, and to students of Celtic studies.

This volume contains 22 chapters dealing with the status of the Welsh language in a wide range of social domains, including agriculture and industry, education, religion, politics, law and culture.