Mae argraffnod blaenorol Jonah Jones, y Cidron Press, wedi’i ail-lansio gan Scene & Word i gymryd drosodd ei weithgareddau cyhoeddi. Mae ei logo yn addasiad digidol syml o’r un teipograffaidd eithaf plaen gwreiddiol.
Bydd y Cidron Press yn gofalu am holl lyfrau a chyhoeddiadau Scene & Word gan Jonah neu am yr arlunydd. Bydd ei rolau’n cynnwys gwerthu a dosbarthu’r holl deitlau a roddwyd i Scene & Word gan Seren Books, Y Lolfa ac Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw.
Bydd Adastra Publishing, argraffnod a lansiwyd gan Scene & Word yn 2024 i ganolbwyntio ar waith gan artistiaid eraill, yn parhau fel endid ar wahân.
Ceir isod hanes byr o’r Cidron Press gwreiddiol, wedi’i ddyfynnu o bywgraffiad Peter Jones:
[Canghenodd Jonah] into small-scale publishing under the imprint of the Cidron Press. While Jonah was still living at Bron y Foel [cartref y teulu o 1948–49, ar lethrau Moel y Gest], one day a craggy old gentleman called E.G. Rowland had turned up with an introduction from a mutual acquaintance. Rowlie, as his friends called him, had been a civil servant whose job was to check weights and measures used by local stores. Whenever possible, rather than drive to his destination he would exercise his passion by walking over the intervening mountains. Having retired, he now sought a climbing companion. Jonah was delighted to oblige and thereby gain a hugely knowledgeable guide to the mountains of Eryri. In 1951 Rowlie published the first edition of his classic Hill Walking in Snowdonia, a concise, matter of fact but well written survey of all the main groups of peaks and the available routes up them.
Jonah set up the Cidron Press (so named after the stream flowing under Plas Afon [cartref o 1955–66]) to publish Rowlie’s new guidebook, The Ascent of Snowdon, in 1956. Like his first work, it was a simple pamphlet of a mere 30 pages or so. It was illustrated with handsome pen and ink sketches and a map of the Snowdon massif by Jonah (with typical modesty not mentioned) and photographs by Paul Bertalot, and carried a foreword by the Welsh Olympic bronze medal winner John Disley. The Ascent of Snowdon was such a success that (with various revisions) it has never been out of print since. In 1958 the Cidron Press brought out the third edition of Hill Walking in Snowdonia, the same year that E.G. Rowland died suddenly. The administration of the Cidron Press was time-consuming (Judith doing much of the work) and earnings barely covered costs, although as a publisher Jonah was able to order books from other firms at a discount. It was a labour of love, and Judith enjoyed the journeys entailed in delivering Rowland’s pamphlets.
The Cidron Press also published such items as a folio of Brenda Chamberlain’s poem ‘On the last night of our pilgrimage’ from her collection The Green Heart and greetings cards for Borthwen [Syr Michael Osmond-Williams]. They continued with the venture until 1971, when they passed the rights to the two Rowland pamphlets to another publisher to get rid of the workload.
O Jonah Jones: an Artist’s Life gan Peter Jones. Seren Books, 2011. ISBN 978-1-85411-556-0. Ar gael o Siop Jonah Jones: £7.50)