It would seem that the History of the County of Brecknock was conceived c. 1800 . The first volume appeared in 1805 , the second (dedicated to Edward Davies ) in 1809 . In his later years Jones was very friendly with Thomas Price ( Carnhuanawc , q.v.) . He d. 15 Jan. 1812 , and was buried at Llangamarch . He was Welsh -speaking, author of an unpublished English version of Ellis Wynne 's Bardd Cwsc , and at one time owner of the ‘ Book of Aneirin ’ — this was given him by Anthony Bacon (q.v.) and passed after his death into Thomas Price 's hands. He had intended writing a history of Radnorshire , and contributed several papers to the Cambrian Register and to Archaeologia . In 1905 , Edwin Davies (q.v.) published a volume, Theophilus Jones, Historian , containing these papers, Jones 's letters to Edward Davies and Walter Davies ( Gwallter Mechain , q.v.) , and a biography by Gwenllian E. F. Morgan (q.v.).

To this day, Jones 's work is the best of our Welsh county histories — a work of diligent and careful research. The author 's prejudices are too obvious to cause trouble — his anti-Popery, his dislike of Dissent and of Methodism (yet his article on Howel Harris , reprinted in the memorial volume mentioned, is not altogether unkindly), his prosaic nature which blinded him to the merits of Henry Vaughan the poet . A second edition with some additions was published by Edwin Davies in 1898 in one volume. In 1909-11 Davies began bringing out a third edition, which was completed by the county historical society in 1930 , with copious additions from the collections of the first baron Glanusk (see under Bailey of Glanusk ). In this handsome four-volume edition the work is indispensable for the student of the history of Brecknock and of Brecon .