Hwyl Llyfr Mawr

With thanks to Alistair Moffatt, we bring you some pages from Hwyl! Llyfr Mawr – Hwyl! (Fun!) being a Welsh-language comic begun in 1949, and the Llyfr Mawr being the 'Big Book'. This 1952 annual was published, and partly drawn, by Ivor  Owen.

"This was the first children's comic to appear in the Welsh language and had a very sketchy, naive (perhaps amateurish!) charm to the illustrations," says Alistair, "although Owen did contribute some well-crafted lino-cut illustrations depicting famous Welsh figures."

"Among the characters to be found within the pages of Hwyl! were Captain Llewellyn Glyn, Detective (and his young assistant Iolo), Plancton Jones (a kind of Welsh superhero) Mister Mostyn the  schoolteacher and Porci (Pig). It also featured the cowboy/Western series Y March Coch (The Red  Horse) by Bryn Williams."

The 'Big Book' was an occasional publication published in 1952 and 1972; a third volume was published undated and possibly pre-dates the edition seen here.

 

 

 

X