[Two Printed Victorian Welsh Migration Street Ballads by Isaac Thomas of Aberdare.] 'Morgan Bach a'i fam yn ymddiddan ynghylch myned i Australia' and 'Dychweliad Morgan Bach o Awstralia, A'i fam (Gwen o'r Gyrnos) yn methu ei adnabod.'

Author: 
Isaac Thomas of Aberdare [Welsh Migration Street Ballads; Victorian popular literature; nineteenth-century emigration to Australia]
Publication details: 
Welsh, late nineteenth century. Both without date or publication details.
£450.00
SKU: 22235

Two Welsh street ballads, indicative of the desire for emigration during a period of hardship. Both 4pp, 16mo (15 x 9 cm). Both bifoliums, and both paginated [1]-4. Frail survivals, heavily aged and worn. ONE: 'Morgan Bach a'i fam yn ymddiddan ynghylch myned i Australia'. Vignette of a sailing ship beneath the title, which translates as 'Young Morgan and his mother talking about going to Australia'. Poem of eleven eight-line stanzas, in the form of a dialogue between the 'Y FAM' and 'MORGAN'. Signed in type at end: 'ISAAC THOMAS. | Aberdar.' The only copies of this printing of the poem listed on OCLC COPAC in two Australian libraries, and the British Library, but it may be among the numerous versions held by the National Library of Wales. TWO: 'Dychweliad Morgan Bach o Awstralia, A'i fam (Gwen o'r Gyrnos) yn methu ei adnabod.' Vignette of a paddle-steamer sailing ship above title, which translates as 'The return of Morgan Bach from Australia, unrecognisable to his mother Gwen of Gyrnos'. Twelve eight-line stanzas, in a similar dialogue to the previous item, but with last stanza spoken by 'Y FAM, (WEDI NEWID EI THON.)' Author named in type at end: 'ISAAC THOMAS, Aberdar.' As with the other item, probably present among the numerous versions held by the NLW. An advertisement in the Aberdare Times, 28 January 1888, describes one Isaac Thomas as 'the cheapest UNDERTAKER in Wales'.