The Red Book of Hergest
Written on vellum, 13 3/8" x 8 1/4", 362 folios. Bicolumnar, numbered 1--1442. Mostly written between 1375-1425, it is the work of on Hywel Fychan fab Hywel Goch of Fuellt, for his employer, Hopcyn ap Tomas ap Einion of Ynys Tawe. So called for the red leather binding, rebound in moroccan leather added in 1851, and for the house of Hergest, Herfordshire, where it was compiled. Presented in 1701 to Jesus College, Oxford, by a Rev. T. Wilkins, of Llanbleithain, Glamorgan in Wales. It is best known as the source of the Mabinogion, as well as having much of its poetry reproduced in The Four Ancient Books of Wales.
- Folios iii-iv: beginning of Dares Phrygia in a later hand.
- Folios v: blank
- Folio vi: a brief index in a late hand
- Folios vii-ix: blank.
The contents of the book are thus:
COLUMNS:
Poems translated in The Four Ancient Books of Wales