Cylchgronau Cymru

sales grew to 1,500 by 1840, though, by 1850, the competition of other papers had reduced them to 1,200.1 In 1845, to suit the new mail times, it was published on Friday. Still four pages, it was enlarged again in 1844, and, in 1852, reached the unwieldy size of 28 by 19! In 1853, it came out with eight pages, reduced to 25½" by 18", and, a little later in the same year, announced that it was now being printed on a Cowper steam press.2 It had grown into a substantial local paper, in total superficies more than three times its original size. Seren Comer neu Hjsbysydd wythnosol cyffredinol dros holl Dywjsogaeth Cymru. Seren Gomer was the first publication in the Welsh language which was without question a newspaper, as distinct from news-sheets or magazines carrying summaries of events and occurrences. It began as a weekly, on Saturday, 1 January 1814.3 It was stamped, and, by the 1809 concession, was priced &\d. It was printed and published at Castle Street, Swansea, by David Jenkin for the proprietary, which consisted of himself, John Voss, the brothers John, Thomas and David Walters, and the Reverend Joseph Harris ("Gomer"). 4 Rather more than £ 2,000 was put down to start the paper, the Walters, who were bankers,5 providing the greater part, and Voss, who was a success fu draper, helping substantially.6 David Jenkin, though having small financial means, was a good scholar in Welsh and English, and able to help with the editing. 7 The greater part of the work in bringing out the paper, however, fell to the editor, Joseph 1 Somerset House (Inland Revenue Department), newspaper stamp ledgers from 1831. 2 Cambrian, 12 September 1845 (published Friday); ibid., 28 September 1844, and 13 February 1852 (enlargements), 6 May 1853 (eight pages), and 28 October 1853 (printed by steam power). 3 N.L.W. has complete holdings. Complete for 1814 at the British Museum Newspaper Repository, Collindale. 4 D. Rhys Stephen, Gweithiau Joseph Harris (Llanelli, 1839), pp. xvi-xvii. 6 F. Green, "Early Banks in West Wales", West Wales Historical Recordr, IV (1914), 161-3. Ifano Jones, Printing and Printers, p. 149. Principality, 9 March 1849.