Revelation by Subscribers: John Bunyan among the Welsh

Abstract

NO ONE WOULD BE SURPRISED by the assertion that John Bunyan made a deep impression among the devout Welsh for a century or more after his unique career. The standard evidence for such a statement is of course the number of editions of the author, and for Bunyan a special compilation of all his works printed in Wales alone between 1677 and 1931 shows the impressive total of 188 titles (no fewer than 58 of Pilgrim's Progress) in various languages. For a land with only a little over a half million inhabitants and with only two cities with over five thousand population in 1800, this is a record hard to equal, demonstrating an extraordinary devotion to a single author. Yet beyond such eloquent numerical summary another particular witness emerges from an unsuspected quarter. In the 1767 Welsh translation of The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded is dutifully included the ‘Names of the Subscribers’ underwriting the publication. This particular list is so unusual as to merit perpetuation in its entirety:

Citation

Kaufman, P. (1968), "Revelation by Subscribers: John Bunyan among the Welsh", Library Review, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 227-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb012487