Reviews
"I thoroughly enjoyed this much-needed contribution.
- Professor David Crystal
This is a well written, coherent argument that makes an original contributon to scholarship. It is a much needed and long awaited biography of one of the most significant figures in the history of the Welsh language.
- Dr Adrian Morgan
"James Pierce has given us a full, balanced biography of one of the most prominent figures in the history of the Welsh language, and a central figure in the history of Wales from the time of Henry VIII until Elizabeth I...Salesbury is one of the foremost representatives of Renaissance humanism in Wales, and hardly anyone has given greater service to the Welsh nation.
- J. Graham Jones, Gwales
"Pierce writes passionately and colourfully and provides a wealth of background to the political intrigues and plotting of the period. In so doing, his book goes a long way to reviving the reputation of a man blighted by some early 20th-century Welsh academics."-
- Gwyn Griffiths, Morning Star
"Finally, a trifecta of excellent literary biographies of early modern writers that deserve broad readership outside specialist corridors.Matthew Woodcock's "Thomas Churchyard: Pen, Sword and Ego", Kelsey Jackson Williams's "The Antiquary: John Aubrey's historical scholarship" and James Pierce's "The Life and Work of William Salesbury: a rare scholar". This feature is particularly notable in the case of Pierce's Study, which brings to light the historical significance of Salesbury's work in promoting the Welsh language by compiling the first Welsh dictionary and serving as principal translator of the 1567 Welsh New Testament.
- Lowell Gallagher, Professor of English, University of California, Los Angeles, SEL (Studies in English Literature), John Hopkins University Press, Vol. 58, No.1, Winter 2018
"A great deal more could, and perhaps should, be said about Pierce's impressively thorough and well-researched study of Salesbury, all of whose varied work is taken seriously and analysed, not just his contribution to New Testament translation. Pierce is to be warmly commended for this, and for his informed contextualization of the man in his time. Salesbury, the man remains, however, a somewhat shadowy and enigmatic figure: neither his date of birth nor that of his death is known for certain; there is no portrait. What survives is his work, and it is probably by this that he would have wished to have been remembered.
- Dr John Morgan-Guy, The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture, published by Cardiff University, Vol. 5, No. 1., July 2019
"Enormously wide-ranging ... in its undertaking... [a] substantial book .... bringing new critical insights into the figure of Salesbury.
- Professor Andrew Hiscock, The Modern Language Review
"For a spirited and systematic defence of Salesbury's methods of translations see Pierce, "A Rare Scholar".
- Professor D. Densil Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis
"It is no wonder that he [Salesbury] has been a hero of mine since I can remember. But …. after reading the book, the hero became a giant.) (James Pierce in his excellent biography refers to others to whom Wales is greatly indebted …. But "the greatest debt, by far, is to William Salesbury.
- Dewi Myrddin Hughes, Y Tyst