How to read Welsh before it was modern
John Strachan’s concise introduction is a point of entry into the historical forms of Welsh that readers meet in older manuscripts and literary works.
The story
John Strachan, a scholar of the Celtic languages, wrote this short book for students who wanted to read Welsh as it was written centuries ago. It sets out the forms and structures a reader runs into in old manuscripts and in the literature of the period, concisely enough to be used in a classroom. The subject reaches beyond Wales: the early Celtic languages matter to anyone comparing languages with one another, and they are the key to the written traditions of medieval Britain.
The book first came out in 1909 and was still being reprinted in 1937, the date of this copy, which shows how long teachers went on using it. It closes with a page of corrections, numbered 290, which is present here.
Published by Manchester University Press, this copy is in its original green cloth with the title in gilt on the spine. The boards are clean, with light wear at the corners and the ends of the spine, and the text block appears secure; the page edges are toned and there are brown spots, heaviest on the endpapers. There is no dust jacket, and the pages have not been checked one by one.
Details
- Date
- 1937
- Publisher
- Manchester University Press, Manchester
- Edition
- First edition 1909; reprinted 1937
- Binding
- cloth: Original green cloth with gilt-titled spine; no dust jacket photographed
- Condition
- Original green publisher's cloth with legible gilt spine lettering and publisher's device. Boards appear clean overall, with light rubbing and wear to spine ends and corners. Text block appears secure in photographs, with age toning to page edges and scattered brown foxing/spotting, most noticeable on the front and rear endpapers. Small pencil price notation on front free endpaper; Blackwell's of Oxford bookseller label on front pastedown. No dust jacket shown. Last numbered corrigenda page 290 is present; full page-by-page collation has not been completed.
