Lady Charlotte Guest and her translation of The Mabinogion - Part I
THE MABINOGION, from the Llyfr Coch o Hergest (Red Book of Hergest) and other Ancient Welsh manuscripts, with an English Translation and Notes by Lady Charlotte Guest.
Printed by William Rees, Llandovery: Longman, London 1849.
Three volumes. Fine large paper copy in full crimson morocco bound with 5 raised bands, ornate gilt spine, gilt edges, marbled endpapers.
Lady Charlotte Guest by William Walker (1791–1867)
- Wikimedia Commons
This is Swansea Library’s copy of the first complete Victorian translation into English of the Mabinogion, the most famous example of Welsh medieval literature. It was translated by Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie, 1812 –1895) and was first published from 1838 onwards. Lady Guest was an English aristocrat who married the Welsh industrialist John Guest from Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil in 1833. Guest’s Iron Works in Dowlais were amongst the largest and most productive in the world at the time. Through her husband Lady Charlotte rapidly became a significant figure in Welsh high society, exchanging mutual visits with Vivian family of Swansea Copper Masters amongst other figures, and supporting charitable causes and education. After the death of her husband in 1853 Lady Charlotte was to be involved in running the Ironworks for a few years as she had developed considerable knowledge of the business.
A recent book which you can borrow from Swansea Libraries which explores Charlotte’s Guest’s fascinating story is by Victoria Owens, Lady Charlotte Guest: The Exceptional Life of a Female Industrialist.
However it is for her translation of the Mabinogion for which she is best remembered today. Charlotte Guest was a lady of many talents, already knowledgeable in multiple languages when she came to Wales at the age of 21, including French, Arabic, Latin and Italian. She immediately started learning Welsh on her arrival in Wales. Such was her interest in the Welsh language she got involved in supporting Cymdeithas Cymreigyddion y Fenni, the Abergavenny Welsh Society, which organised important eisteddfodau which were forerunners of the later National Eisteddfod. The importance of the Welsh language to her can be seen from the dedication of the Mabinogion to her children:
The idea for the translation came from her contact with literary circles around Abergavenny eisteddfodau such as the noted historian Rev. Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc) and the Rev John Jones (Tegid). She was approached to support publication of Welsh manuscripts such as the Mabinogion in 1837 and decided to do the translation herself with support from Tegid and Carnhuanawc. She set to work quickly by sourcing copies of manuscripts and going so far as to pay for copies of similar romances in continental libraries to compare them to the romances she started to translate. She began her work with the Arthurian tale Iarlles y Ffynnon, 'The Lady of the Fountain’.
The books were originally issued in part sets by William Rees, a noted printer in Llandovery with the transcribed Welsh text, alongside the English translation, and with illustrations at the start of each tale. Lady Guest supported luxurious production values for the books which William Rees fulfilled to a high standard, including some facsimile recreations of the original manuscripts. You can see here an advert for the first volume from a Swansea newspaper The Cambrian:
The Cambrian 6/10/1838
The initial seven volumes were greeted with wide acclaim as they were published between 1838 and 1845. Then in 1849 they were republished in a three volume set and this is the edition in Swansea Library.
The three volumes contains twelve tales in all which were assembled from various Welsh medieval manuscripts primarily from the Llyfr Coch Hergest (Red Book of Hergest). At the heart of the books are four interlocking stories, the four branches of the Mabinogi, which a medieval scribal error described as the Mabinogion, the title which was used for the collection. Alongside them Lady Guest added eight other tales from the manuscripts, mostly relating to Arthurian legend, which she was fascinated by, some of these are Welsh retellings of French romances. The most important of these however predates the French stories, Culhwch ac Olwen, ‘Culwch and Olwen’, is the oldest example of an Arthurian tale as they would have been told by Welsh bards.
A central part of Culwch and Olwen is Arthur and his warriors hunt for the bloodthirsty Irish giant boar Twrch Trwyth, a hunt which took place right across South Wales and even into the Swansea area. At one point Arthur and his men corner the boar near the river Loughor they then pursue it north into the Amman valley then onwards into the Black Mountains. Ammanford has a large sculpture commemorating the hunt today, and it may be alluded to in placenames like Cwmtwrch. Lady Guest translated this section in this way:
In the second part of this series we will go onto examine how Lady Guest’s translation became popular and the influence it had and how Swansea Libraries played a part in securing her reputation. We will also look at the wider impact of the Mabinogion by looking at some of the many other stories that were inspired by it.