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The Encyclopaedia of Wales


"A book that every Welsh family that cares about its heritage will want to own" is how we have defined the planned Academi Encyclopaedia of Wales. That such a work does not already exist is perhaps a reflection on the past economic and political status of Wales - with the coming of devolution the moment is there to be seized. Thanks to a lottery grant of £391,527 from the Arts Council of Wales work is now in progress on this ultimate guide to all things Welsh. The Encyclopaedia will appear in both Welsh and English editions as well as on CD-ROM.




The Academi has put in place a number of key partnerships in order to make this project happen: the Welsh language book (Gwyddoniadur Cymru) will be published by the University of Wales Press, in the wake of earlier successful collaborations Cydymaith i Lenyddiaeth Cymru and The Welsh Academy Dictionary. The English language volume will be published by HarperCollins, acknowledged world leaders in the publishing of encyclopaedias and whose recent best-selling Encyclopaedia of Scotland (eds. John & Julia Keay) will serve as an invaluable template. Finally the CD-ROM will be produced in collaboration with BBC Cymru/Wales, pioneering imaginative use of the new technology.

We hope that this ultimate Welsh reference work will combine the coverage of a gazetteer and dictionary of biography with the readability of a companion, the authority of a historical dictionary and the utility of a guide book. Welsh readers will wonder how they existed without it.

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