Guest, Charlotte

GUEST’S PUBLICATIONS

1. 1838-1845 a series of 7 volumes. The first complete edition of The Mabinogion.^[1]Guest, Charlotte. 1838. The Mabinogion. 7 vols. Tonn Press, Llandovery, Wales; and Longmans, London; simultaneously.
The volumes gave both Welsh and English texts, were lavishly illustrated, in gold tooled leather covers. Source texts in Latin and French were included, as well as copious scholarly notes.
Besides providing bilingual text, there were simultaneous publications in London and Wales.

Guest, Charlotte. The Mabinogion; from the Llyfr Coch o llergest and other ancient Welsh Manuscripts; with an English Translation and Notes. Tonn Press, Llandovery, Wales; and Longmans, London; simultaneously.

The Mabinogion Part I, 1838. Lady of the Fountain, or Owain.
The Mabinogion Part II, 1839 Peredur the Son of Evrawc
The Mabinogion Part III, 1840 Geraint the Son of Erbin.
The Mabinogion Part IV, 1842 Kilhwch and Olwen or the Twrch Trwyth.
The Mabinogion Part V, 1843 The Dream Of Rhonabwy.
The Tale of Pwyll, Prince of Dyved.
The Mabinogion Part VI, 1844 Lludd and Llefelys.
The Dream of Macsen.
The Mabinogion Part VII, 1845 The Four Branches.
Taliesin.

2. 1849 a 3 volumes set.^[2]Guest, Charlotte. 1849. The Mabinogion. Vol. 3 vols. Llandovery, Wales; and London; simultaneously.: Rees; and Longmans.
The first series was reduced to a smaller edition, by omitting the extensive source and facsimile texts in other languages besides Welsh. Otherwise the text was published in similar elaborate style to the first series.

Volume I. Owain, Peredur, and Geraint. The Three Romances.
Volume II. Culhwch and Olwen; Lludd and Llefelys; the Dream of Rhonabwy; the Dream of Macsen.
Volume III. The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, and the Hanes Taliesin.

3. 1877 a single volume of the English translation only.^[3]Guest, Charlotte. 1877. The Mabinogion. London: Quaritch.
This was in the same elaborate style, and the text became the well known book which has been reprinted again and again until the present day. It retained the 145 pages of Guest’s scholarly notes, and the illustrations.
In 1906 this translation was adopted by the influential Everyman series in a much more modest and affordable format.^[4]Guest, Charlotte. 1906. The Mabinogion. (Everyman). Everyman’s Library. London and NY.: J. M. Dent and Sons and E. P. Dutton.

The single volume 1877 Guest translation remained the leading English text until the 1949 Jones and Jones version.^[5]Jones, Gwyn and Jones, Thomas. 1949. The Mabinogion. Everyman. London: J. M. Dent.

More editions have been published at intervals throughout 20th and 21stC. A notable version is the strikingly illustrated version by the artist Alan Lee, 2001.^[6]Guest, Charlotte. 2001. The Mabinogion. (Illust. Alan Lee). London and NY.: Harper Collins.

In 2008 Colin Jones published a dramatic reading of most of the Guest text of the Four Branches, with evocative musical background.^[7]Jones, Colin. 2008. “Mabinogion, the Four Branches.”
The first episode of Pwyll is free on Jones’ site and on youtube.

Later versions of ‘The Mabinogion‘ by other translators have omitted the Hanes Taliesin which Guest included; except for Patrick Ford, 1977^[8]Ford, Patrick K. 1977. The Mabinogi and Other Welsh Tales. Berkeley, Caifornia, USA: UCP.
; but his contents list was not ‘The Mabinogion‘ but the ‘native tales’ with the least Anglo-French influence.

Guest’s English translation of ‘The Mabinogion‘ continues to be easily available today worldwide in both book form and online (e.g. www.interfaith.org/celtic/mabinogion/).

For a detailed bibliography of ‘The Mabinogion‘see my online bibliography on Zotero.

SYNONYMS

ALSO

• Bollard, John
• First Steps with the Mabinogi
• Guest
• Guest journal
• Guest text: Pwyll Prince of Dyfed
• Guest texts
• Index Charlotte Guest
• Index of Guest Journals