The Dedication Copy, specially bound for the owner of the manuscript and printed on vellum.
 
First edition. A special copy, uniquely printed on Japanese vellum. There were additionally 350 copies printed on paper. Octavo. In a presentation binding by Morley of Oxford for the publisher, in full vellum, lusciously lettered and decorated in gilt with crowns, flowers, dragons and boars. Red morocco title labels to the spine. Gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. This is a near fine copy, internally crisp, slight rubbing to the binding, one plate offset to opposite page [C6].
 
PROVENANCE: Philip Bryan Davies-Cooke (1832-1903), thence by descent. Sold with other effects of Gwysaney Hall at auction in 2025.
 
The dedication copy of the printed edition of one of the earliest Welsh ecclesiastical manuscripts. This “Special Copy” was produced for the manuscript’s then owner, Philip Bryan Davies-Cooke, who is also the dedicatee of this volume.
 
The Book of Llan Dav, also known as Llandaff, was produced in the 12th century and chronicled the early history of the diocese of Llandaff. The manuscripts shows state and position of the church in Wales soon after the Norman Conquest.
 
It was written between 1120 and 1140, under the supervision of Urban, bishop of Llandaff. At the beginning of the 17th century, it was owned antiquarian John Selden (1584-1654), and passed later to Robert Davies (1658-1710), of Llannerch and Gwysaney, Flintshire. He put a new oak cover on the front of the volume in 1696, and the Book of Llandaff remained at Llannerch until it was placed on deposit at The National Library of Wales early in the 1940s. It was then purchased by the Library in June 1959.