Art: Shui Rhys and the Tylwyth Teg

This issue’s cover is an illustration from a book called British Goblins. It was published in 1880 and was written by Wirt Sikes, the United States consul to Cardiff from 1876 to 1883. Despite the title (or perhaps recognising that Britain was once entirely Welsh-speaking), the book looks only at Welsh folklore.

The term Tylwyth Teg means the Fair Folk, or Fairies, though the image presents a very Victorian era vision of such people. In Welsh folklore they are generally human-sized.

This particular image was sourced from the Public Domain Image Archive / Internet Archive / California Digital Library. There is a scanned version of the book from the Internet Archive, and a review of it, available here.

The main page for the book credits Sikes with the illustration, but there is a clear signature on the piece. The scan of the book states that the art was by a leading Welsh artist of the time, Thomas Henry Thomas. Amongst other achievements, he was also in large part responsible for the design of the Welsh flag.

Shui Rhys was a farmer’s daughter from Sir Ceredigion (Cardiganshire). According to legend, when tasked with minding the cows, she would come home very late claiming that she had been dancing with the the pobl bach (little people). Eventually one night she never came home.

The library does not have a larger image available for download, so I’m afraid that the image I have provided on the cover is the best you are getting.