Welsh Lewis Valentine Psalms

Lewis Edward Valentine was born in Llanddulas, Conwy in 1893. In 1925 he married Margaret Jones. He was a Baptist minister and editor of the Baptist paper, Seren Gomer, for nearly a quater of a century, from 1951 to 1975. He was one of the founders of Plaid Cymru, the partyʼs first president and its first parliamentary candidate in the 1928 election. In 1936, he was one of the three that claimed responsibility for burning the RAF bombing school in Penyberth, on the Llŷn Peninsula in Caernarfonshire. He, together with Saunders Lewis and D.J.Williams were sentenced by the Old Bailey to 9 months imprisonment at Wormwood Scrubs. He died aged 92 in Colwyn Bay in 1986. Whilst Lewis Valentine served as Baptist pastor at the Tabernacl Welsh Baptist chapel in Llanduduno. The publication was dedicated in memory of his parents. There is a 15 page introduction (Rhagarweiniad) about the psalms. He translated 41 psalms: numbers 1, 2, 8; 15, 16, 19; 23, 27; 32, 34; 40, 42-43, 46, 48; 50, 51; 62, 65; 72, 73; 80, 84, 87; 90, 91; 100, 102, 103, 104; 110, 116; 121, 122, 125, 126; 130, 132, 139; 145, 147. At the end of the book is a section of notes (Nodiadau) about each of these psalms, followed by some questions and subjects for discussion (Pynciau iʼw Trafod). They were published by Gwasg Ilston in April 1936, and printed under the title Detholiad oʼr Salmau (A Selection of the Psalms) by J. D. Lewis and Sons, Gwasg Gomer, Llandysul. Detholiad oʼr Salmau was digitised for the Bible Society in 2021. This project also includes his translation of the Virtuous Bride from Proverbs 31, which he gave as part of an address at the funeral for the mother of the authoress Kate Roberts in 1944. They are published online with the permission of his family.