My consideration of Gwyneth Lewis’s  collection of poetry, ‘Treiglo’  for the Cardiff Review.  A first-rate book in content and also in design,achieving a striking coherence in all respects.

An apt subtlety is the hallmark of every design choice, from the compass/wave motifs used on the pages demarcating sections, to the saturated, veiling effect used on the photos of Gwilym on the end-papers: ‘dear and yet dark’. Only on the final page do we see the photograph clearly: man and bike. The front of the dust jacket carries a quasi-silhouette of a Vincent Comet motorbike (Gwilym Lewis’s favoured model) against a compass set on a subtly nautical/global background and on the jacket’s back, as a small boy, he looks directly at one as he clutches a steering wheel. The book sits, small and light, in the hand and the paper – substantial, smooth, an un-glaring off-white – plays its part in furthering the sense of intimacy and of a self-respecting professionalism.