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In my hand was a padded manilla envelope. It protected the 1925 volume of Caneuon Ceiriog Detholiad. I had written on the envelope “Mr Michael Sheen”. Passing through the glass stage doors at the Wales Millennium Centre, I was sweetly greeted by the receptionist. I handed her the package and asked that she see to it that it reached Mr Michael Sheen’s hands. She smiled and assured me it would.
I discovered the Gregynog Press [Gwasg Gregynog] in a backroom at the far end of the Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Collection, located on the upper floor of the Center Block of the National Museum Cardiff. Books from the press were exhibited in a vitrine. The Davies sisters had launched the press in emulation of William Morris and his Kelmscott Press.
The Caneuon Ceiriog Detholiad was the third book to come out of Gregynog Press; the first in Welsh. I found a copy at Andrew’s book stall in the Jacobs Antique Centre. Ms Keogh, my cherished companion, said I should buy it, despite the binding being in a deplorable state and the poet John Ceiriog Hughes writing in Welsh. I didn’t buy it. Two years after Ms Keogh’s death, I was back in Andrew’s stall and the book was still there. I had come to love Wales and the Welsh. As I wrote in an earlier essay, the 2021 September issue of Snakeskin, “I had decided this book was special, was significant to the history and culture of Wales. I was determined to finance this volume’s resurrection as a labor of love for the land that has adopted me, to repay its kindness.”
A year later, I found an appropriate bookbinder to do the work, a Welsh bookbinder, Julian Thomas. It only remained to find a proper home for the beautiful volume. The National Library of Wales and the National Museum Wales already had copies. Two years later and I began focusing on the great actor Michael Sheen to undertake the stewardship of this book.
Why Michael Sheen? Because he is a great Welsh actor. Because he is a charitable man who devotes much of his time and wealth in expressions of his humanity. But how to get the book to him? Wales is a small country and southern Wales is a smaller part of it. He was born in Newport, twelve miles to the east. His childhood was in Port Talbot, thirty-seven miles to the west. I found among my Welsh friends that they knew people who knew him. As easy as that. But then the announcement arrived to my mailbox, Michael Sheen was coming to the Wales Millennium Centre to perform in Nye, a play about the life and dying of Aneurin "Nye" Bevan, founder of the NHS [National Health Service]. I bought a ticket for Thursday, 23rd May 2024 for the 2:30PM performance, seat E25. There were no good seats available for the evening performance. I would bring the book to the theater.
As the day of the performance drew near, I began to rethink giving Sheen the gift of the book. He was born and grew up in south Wales, not north Wales, and not west Wales. If he was typical of the Welsh in south Wales, he would not be able to either speak nor read the language. It took a little investigating, but my hunch was correct. I was burdened with finding a new steward for the book.
It was my Welsh friends, as well as several staff members at the Wales Millennium Centre, who changed my mind back. They said he deserved it. They said he would appreciate it. They told me how he was a humanitarian and proud Welsh nationalist. And it was pointed out to me that I had been trying to learn Welsh for two and a half years without success. It’s a hard language.
So it was, I brought the book to the stage door. I did not inscribe the book. That way he can find a better steward if he does not feel deserving. I did not put my address or phone number in the letter. If he must find me, he has my name. I am not offering the gift in exchange for something. That would devalue the intent. I am a fan, but I am not looking to obligate him.
With the book were copies of my two related Snakeskin essays, the first about finding and buying the book, and the second about finding a bookbinder and having it rebound. I also included a personal letter. It read, “Shwmae Mr Michael Sheen: Please take this gift. I give it with respect for your talent and humanity. In admiration of the pride and passion you hold for Wales, I feel this book should belong to you. I only wish you could read it, but I can’t read it either, having been born in the Bronx.”
Mr Bentzman will continue to report here regularly about
the events and concerns of his life. If you've any
comments or suggestions, he would be pleased to hear from you.
You can find his
several books at www.Bentzman.com.
Enshrined
Inside Me, his second collection of
essays, is now available to purchase.
