Publishing in Wales
Renaissance and Resistance

The history of publishing in Wales is an exciting story of conquest, rebellion, resistance, and renaissance spread over 2,000 years.

Jacob D. Rawlins (Author)

9781108948173, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 April 2022

75 pages
17.7 x 12.8 x 0.6 cm, 0.1 kg

The creation of texts preserves culture, literature, myth, and society, and provides invaluable insights into history. Yet we still have much to learn about the history of how those texts were produced and how the production of texts has influenced modern societies, particularly in smaller nations like Wales. The story of publishing in Wales is closely connected to the story of Wales itself. Wales, the Welsh people, and the Welsh language have survived invasion, migration, oppression, revolt, resistance, religious and social upheaval, and economic depression. The books of Wales chronicle this story and the Welsh people's endurance over centuries of challenges. Ancient law-books, medieval manuscripts, legends and myths, secretly printed religious works, poetry, song, social commentary, and modern novels tell a story of a tiny nation, its hardy people, and an enduring literary legacy that has an outsized influence on culture and literature far beyond the Welsh borders.

1. Introduction
2. Welsh History and Identity
3. Poetry, Literacy, and Manuscripts
4. Early Welsh Printing
5. The Industrial Era
6. Resistance and Renaissance
7. Conclusion: Into the Electronic Age.

Subject Areas: Publishing industry & book trade [KNTP], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Literature & literary studies [D]