Pictorial dictionary by Eliza Pughe, front cover [image 1 of 136]

Description

This book was created by Eliza Pughe, Coch y big, Clynnog who was about 12 years old at the time. The biographical note inside the volume says that she was born about 1831 and died about 1850 and that she was deaf. It's possible that she received her education at home as no formal system of educating deaf children was developed until the 1890s, but this volume is proof that someone had endeavoured to educate Eliza Pughe.

The beginning of the nineteenth century saw a number of important developments in education for the deaf and it's possible that this volume shows this influence. In 1817 the American Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787-1851) founded a pioneering school for the deaf in the United States. He was following in the footsteps of other pioneers including the Scot, Thomas Braidwood (1715-1806) who had founded a school for the deaf in Edinburgh in 1760.

The book comprises a series of drawings to illustrate everyday words. Interestingly, often there is a Welsh term and an English term under the drawing. A note inside the cover states that the volume was bound by Eben Fardd (Ebenezer Thomas, 1802-1863).

Source: National Library of Wales