Eisteddfods in Australia and Wales
The Eisteddfods 1979 - 1981

The cultural value of the Eisteddfods too many communities was the reason I began researching and photographing the events firstly in mining towns around Australia. I also travelled to Wales for the proclaiming ceremony of the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1980

While I was in Wales I visited Newport to see if I might get to meet the legendary documentary photographer David Hurn. He had set up a School of Documentary Photography at Newport in 1973 and although I didn’t meet David, parked outside the college was a car with a bumper stick for the Newport Male Choir.

This coincidence got better when the owners of the car arrived and invited me to a small Welsh town further north of Newport, where the choir had an engagement at the Town Hall that evening.

The men dressed in tuxedos arrived at the British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women for a pint of ale prior to their concert. Once all 30 or so men had a beer in hand the conductor (out of sight) made a gesture and the room was filled with their rousing voices, the concert was just as inspiring. The next day I pushed on to the proclaiming ceremony for the National Eisteddfod held in the town of Machynlleth. The Eisteddfods back home had a similar spirit, but mostly children encouraged by their parents to perform. Abermain in the Hunter Valley was the first Eisteddfod I photographed.

The photographs became a handmade book with 16 original black and white prints laid and pressed into 245 gms antique vellum paper. The book was bound on tapes, drawn on boards with hooked guards, hand prepared and bound.

The book dimensions are 15.2/8 inches x 11.4/7 inches (38,7cm x 29cm) and a hard cover. The photographs are traditional silver bromide prints measuring 6.3/8 inches x 4.1/8 inches (16cm x 11cm) and tipped in with reversible archival PVA adhesive.

The Eisteddfod book is an edition of 1
Book design & binding - Geoffrey Major
Box design and build - Bryan Derrick.
Photographed & printed - Philip Quirk

This unique book was printed, bound and boxed in 1982 and is available for purchase. Contact us.