resource, created in the context of the "urgent need to rescue and record such traditional lore which was then rapidly fading from memory". Wilkins was a prolific pioneer in his field and later research has demonstrated some errors and imbalances in his writings. For example, Wilkins was the chief architect of Lucy Thomas' fame as "the mother of the Welsh steam coal trade". His 1888 account gives the impression of Thomas as an enterprising woman who actively went after new markets, whereas evidence now suggests that this work was mainly conducted by her agents, particularly George Insole. Later authors have also commented on the "notorious unreliability" of some of his work. Nevertheless, Wilkins' labours have "smooth[ed] the paths of all future writers on these subjects" and his works have continued to be referenced in later academic studies. Literary editor Meic Stephens concluded that Wilkins "endeavoured, not least in the pages of The Red Dragon, ... to create in the English language a readership with sympathies like his own, and for that attempt, some fifty years before it became feasible, he deserves to be remembered". Works Wilkins' major historical works are: The History of Merthyr Tydfil (1867,1908) Wales, Past and Present (1870) (The History of Wales for Englishmen) Tales and Sketches of Wales (1879,1880) The History of the Literature of Wales from 1300 to 1650 (1884) The History of Newport (1886) The South Wales Coal Trade and Its Allied Industries (1888) The History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and Other Trades of Wales (1903). Wilkins' other writings include: Storm and Calm (1870, fiction) Old John: John Bull's Father and the Green Island Far Out at Sea: Being the Welshman's Reply to "The Times" (1877, pamphlet) Buried Alive: A Narrative of Suffering and Heroism, Being the Tale of the Rhondda Colliers, with Further Details (1877) (The Inundation of Tynewydd, booklet) A Relic of Roman Catholic Days in Wales (1877) Robert Fitzhamon: An Historical Romance of Glamorgan (1880, fiction) To be Sold by Auction (1881, fiction) A Memorial Sketch of the Visit of the Marquess of Salisbury to Newport, Mon. (1886) (The Salisbury Memorial: Gwent in the Old Days, The Morgan Family) Ivor Bach: A Tale of the Twelfth Century ( 1890) Kilsanos: A Tale of the Welsh Mountains (1895, fiction) Merthyr Tydfil Illustrated: (including Aberdare, Dowlais and the Beacons) (1903, Edward J. Burrow ed.) Historical sketches of the Bute family, Noteworthy Men