Y Caneuon Cynnar / The Early Recordings

Inside the image.

A square cover is filled by a repeated collage of small, tilted portrait photographs against a mottled deep blue and violet ground. The portraits show a young woman in close-up, mostly looking towards the camera; some are warm-toned and colour, while one near the centre is rendered in cool grey-blue. The photographs vary in size and angle, overlap visually through the pattern, and are cropped by the edges of the cover. Several faces appear only partly at the top, sides and bottom, while larger portraits form a loose diagonal arrangement across the middle. Their backgrounds are indistinct, and the repeated images sit flat against the patterned field rather than forming a deep scene.

Near the lower centre, over the portraits, the name “mary hopkin” appears in large, pale cream lowercase serif lettering. A fine horizontal line runs beneath it. Below the line, a much smaller line reads “y caneuon cynnar • the early recordings” in light lettering. The text is centred and clearly separated from the faces by its scale and contrast, though it overlays the collage. The palette combines indigo, purple and blue with amber, peach and brown tones in the photographs; the central monochrome portrait provides a cooler accent. The overall treatment is photographic and graphic, with a visibly mottled, uneven background and a dense, repeating arrangement. There is no separate border or broad area of blank space.