A striking photographic full-colour hardback book to celebrate a seaside and university town, considered to be one of the most iconic towns in Wales. Authors well known for their associations with Aberystwyth - John Barnie, Catrin Dafydd, Fflur Dafydd, Andrew Green, Mary Lloyd Jones and Gerald Morgan - contribute short essays to accompany Keith Morris's witty images.

Llyfr bwrdd coffi lliw-llawn i ddathlu un o drefi glan-y-môr a phrifysgol amlycaf Cymru. Cynhwysir cyfraniadau gan awduron sy'n amlwg yn eu cysylltiad ag Aberystwyth - John Barnie, Catrin Dafydd, Fflur Dafydd, Andrew Green, Mary Lloyd Jones a Gerald Morgan. Gyda lluniau gan y ffotograffydd profiadol Keith Morris.

This hardback book contains six essays about Aberystwyth, mid Wales, accompanied by a wealth of local photographs taken by Aberystwyth photographer, Keith Morris. All the contributors live, or have lived, in or near the town.

First, ‘Frontier Town’ by John Barnie, looks at the seashore, from the mouth of the Ystwyth river to the beach at Clarach and the sands of Ynyslas. Accompanied by local zoologist Willie Sinclair, he searches the tidal pools for the variety of seaweed and teeming sea creatures. He explores Tan-y-bwlch with botanist Arthur Chater, finding a wide range of familiar and rare coastal plants. Bird life of the area is included and the essay considers the development of the town and coast over thousands of years.

In ‘Carmine and Madder’, Mary Lloyd Jones, the well-known artist, looks at the social and cultural aspects of the town, the choice and variety of which she feels is a very well-kept secret. She describes the numerous architectural ‘gems’ to be found in Aberystwyth – the houses, libraries and bookshops as well as the buildings of the University and the crowning splendour of the National Library on the hill. As a painter she looks at the hinterland and considers the future in this fast-changing world.

Catrin Dafydd brings the youth and humour of student life to ‘Foodie Aber’. It is an enjoyable and informative romp through the eating places of the town, many of which are off the beaten track, and is a nostalgic reminder of the joys of student life in a town set so far from the glitter and bustle of city life.

‘In the beginning . . .’ by Gerald Morgan, is a discourse on the early history of the town, in particular the burgesses who rented the first plots or ‘burgages’ in Aberystwyth. He found them in a fascinating document which lists 112 burgesses in 1301. The burgesses’ names are an intriguing mix of Welsh and English Christian names, origins, occupations, parents’ names, nicknames, attributes (like Richard Careless) or status. Six were women. The writer’s interest in and enthusiasm for trying to deduce the truth behind the bare facts of a list of names comes across and is inspiring and exciting.

Fflur Dafydd’s ‘Making Waves’ will resonate in the hearts of those who came to Aberystwyth, lived the unique student life there and left, never to lose the haunting memories of the small, insular town. She describes the nightlife of the young, the exuberance of those liberated from the ties of home and the impossibility of recapturing that time by returning.

The last essay ‘Knowledge Capital’ is by Andrew Green, Librarian of the National Library of Wales. It is his personal experience of life in Aberystwyth as a ‘callow youth’ and many years later returning to the town as Librarian. He describes the good and the less satisfactory aspects of the town and, in an informative and enlightening essay will give readers, especially those unfamiliar with the area, an insight into life in a remote western edge of the UK.

The essays are interspersed throughout with original large, small and detailed photographs of the town and its environs. The book is a reminiscence of Aberystwyth compressed into 83 colourful pages.

Beryl Thomas

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.