Gwin Hen A Newydd (Wyth Canrif O Gan Ar Gerdd Dant)

Inside the image.

A square cover uses a dark, warmly lit interior as the setting for a still life of open books. A large open volume lies across the centre, its pale pages spread low and wide; in front and to the right, another book fans open, with a thick stack of cream pages curling towards the lower-right corner. More worn-looking books are piled beneath them across the foreground. At lower left, a small goblet-shaped object with a dark, ornate-looking bowl stands beside the books. The precise details of its decoration are difficult to make out.

The still life fills the lower half of the image, while a shadowy background rises behind it. At upper right is a tall, dark wooden structure with narrow vertical elements and rectangular panes or openings glowing orange-red. The interior beyond is mostly black, with faint brown and reddish tones. A dark upright object or furniture edge stands behind the books near the left of centre. The bright pages and lettering stand out sharply against the deep shadows. Light falls unevenly across the books, picking out their pale edges and the rumpled, brown surfaces beneath them; the upper background remains largely unlit.

Large golden-orange lettering occupies the upper-left corner in three stacked lines: “Ales / Lloyd / Davies”. Beneath it, in smaller lettering of a similar warm colour, are two lines reading “Gwin Hen / a Newydd”. Along the bottom, over the dark foreground, a pale italic line reads “Wyth canrif o gân ar Gerdd Dant”; below it, in smaller pale type, are the names “Telyn • Ceinwen Roberts • Harp”. The upper lettering has rounded, irregular forms and a dark outline or shadow that helps it remain legible over the dim background. The lower text is more slender and slanted, following the bottom edge of the composition.

The image has a staged, photographic appearance, with the books arranged as a richly detailed still life. Its palette is restrained: near-black and dark brown dominate, contrasted by the amber-orange lettering and window light, and the ivory and muted ochre of the pages. The square image has no separate border; the scene and text extend to its edges.