John Gwenogvryn Evans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Reverend John Gwenogvryn Evans (1852-1930) was a Welsh palaeographic expert.

Evans studied theology and became a Unitarian minister, but gave up his pastorate because of ill-health. He began to take an interest in ancient Welsh manuscripts, and set up his own printing press in order to create facsimiles of major Welsh medieval manuscripts, such as the books of Aneirin and Taliesin. From 1894 to 1920, Evans was employed by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, producing a major Report on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language. In 1905 he facilitated the purchase of the Peniarth manuscript collection from Sir John Williams. Since 1909, these have been lodged in the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth.