Mabinogi Bibliography

# INTRO READERS For recommended introductory translations see the end of this Note, or in brief, consider Parker's free online pages; Bollard's lovely style and beautifully illustrrated book; or Sioned Davies compact and modern style. Also see the Cybi videos, and Colin Jones recordings with music.

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# 1795 William PUGHE. The first story of the First Branch, in the Cambrian Register journal. To read, see the 1821 Cambro-Briton journal version, which is very little edited.

# 1838, 1840, 1849 Charlotte GUEST, aka Schreiber. The first full set, in both Welsh and English, as a series, with her many notes. The translation into English alone was republished many times, and can be read today online. Use the Web tag to see some examples of sites. There is a separate Author's Note about her in this bibliog here.

(1902 EVERYMAN edition of the Guest translation, replaced 1949 by the Jones & Jones version.)

# 1929 T. P. ELLIS and John LLOYD. 2 vols. In a difficult position as the first major translation following the magnificent opus of Guest, Ellis & Lloyd benefited from both Llyfr Goch and Llyfr Gwyn MSS. as sources. But the work was harshly critiqued by the scholarly elite as awkward, inconsistent, and lacking modern idiom.

# 1948 Gwyn JONES and Thomas JONES (known as Jones & Jones). In order to challenge the dominance of the Guest opus, it seems it was necessary to damn her with faint or backhanded praise. This is an extremely accurate translation still valued and used widely for that reason by students. It is not popularly read as its very accuracy makes it awkward to the modern eye. Republished several times. Contains the Four Branches; a group called Native Tales (Culhwch ac Olwen, Lludd ac Llefelys, and the two Dreams); the three Romances; and Textual Notes.

# 1976 Jeffrey GANTZ. Penguin edition. This became for a long time the most widely circulated version, due to its publisher's reach, fair pricing, and its translation style which is modern and accessible. But the translation has been criticised academically as too freehanded in aiming at accessibility.

# 1977 Patrick FORD. Includes the Hanes taliesin, but excludes the Romances, and the Dreams. His Introduction is a good summary of scholarship up to date of publication. Ford is a transitional scholar, as he favours the reconstruction approach of the 19thC and earlier 20thC scholars, but also very much recognises the complex artistry of the Mabinogi which calls for a structural approach. The translation itself aims to balance the accuracy of Jones & Jones, with Gantz readability, and does so.

# 2005 Will PARKER Four Branches. Translation developed from earlier versions. The First and Second Branch is the White Book text: using the DIAS edition. Third and Fourth Branches is based on Ifor Williams' Pedeir Keinc Y Mabinogi (1951). Included here particularly because it is important as part of the most substantial single study of the Mabinogi published in modern times, with attention to both political context and mythology. Parker also offers many useful articles on his websites, including a Bibliographic essay on the history of Mabinogi scholarship. The translation text from his book on the Four Branches is also online for easy reference, including his footnotes.

# 2006 John K. BOLLARD A lovely readable version, with useful discreet notes inline as well as an introduction, and gorgeous photography of the Mabinogi sites in Wales by Anthony Griffiths. In the 70s Bollard led the modern movement to study the Mabinogi as complex and sophisticated works of literature in their own right. He also published more similarly beautiful versions of the rest of the Mabinogi.

# 2007 Sioned DAVIES. A compact, and easy to read translation with Introduction, endnotes and glossary of names. Davies has a distinctive approach, here and in her other publications, exploring the oral tradition and live performance aspects of the Mabinogi.

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RECOMMENDED INTRODUCTORY TEXTS (books) are a choice of: - Sioned Davies 2005 as a compact and easy to read version; John Bollard 1972 also lovely to read, which has many excellent photographs of the landscape sites in Wales where the stories take place. An especially lovely version of the Charlotte Guest text has many gorgeous artwork illustrations by Alan Lee, 2001, in a dramatic, Celtic style

There are many FREE versions to read online, e.g. see Parker 2002 for the Four Branches as a useful quick lookup; or various other websites for the full set which will list if the 'Web' tag is used on the left.

There are delightful VIDEOS by Cybi (free versions on youtube) and sensitively crafted RECORDINGS with music by Colin Jones who offers the first one free on his site. These make an especially enjoyable introduction to the dramatic mysteries which playwright Manon Eames rightly called 'The Magnificent Myths of the Mabinogi.'