Y Caneuon Cynnar (1940-41)

Inside the image.

A square album cover in black and white, divided visually between a narrow black column on the left and a much larger close-up portrait on the right. A young man fills most of the image. His dark hair is swept back and tousled, and his face turns slightly towards the viewer while his eyes look directly out. One hand rests beneath his chin in the foreground, with the fingers partly hidden by the crop at the bottom. His dark clothing merges into the shadowed lower edge. The portrait is closely framed: the top of his hair nearly meets the upper border, and his face is cut off at the right and lower edges. Behind him is a softly mottled, pale grey background, visible mainly around the upper head and left side of his face. Strong directional light catches his forehead, nose, cheek and hand, while deep shadows gather around his eyes, jaw and clothing. The photograph has a high-contrast, softly grainy monochrome appearance.

The left-hand black panel carries a column of pale lettering. At the top, the name is set in very large, tall, narrow capitals on two lines: “DAVID” and “LLOYD”. Beneath it is a small horizontal ornament consisting of a thin line, a central diamond-like shape and short tapered ends. Lower down, the title is centred in a compact stack: “Y / CANEUON / CYNNAR / 1940-41 / THE / EARLY / RECORDINGS”. Near the bottom is a small outlined rectangular box with several tiny lines of text and a large Roman numeral “I”. The restrained white and grey lettering stands sharply against the black panel, while the portrait presses close to the panel’s right edge. The overall design combines a photographic portrait with a carefully ordered typographic strip.