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Llysenw yw Lewis Carroll: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson oedd enw iawn yr awdur a oedd yn ddarlithydd mewn Mathemateg yng Ngholeg Eglwys Crist, Rhydychen. Cychwynnodd Dodgson y stori ar 4 Gorffennaf 1862, pan aeth ar daith mewn cwch rhwyfo ar afon Tafwys yn Rhydychen gyda'r Parchedig Robinson Duckworth, Alice Liddell (deng mlwydd oed), merch Deon Coleg Eglwys Crist, a chyda'i dwy chwaer, Lorina (tair blwydd ar ddeg oed), ac Edith (wyth mlwydd oed). Fel sy'n amlwg o'r gerdd ar ddechrau'r llyfr, gofynnodd y tair merch i Dodgson adrodd stori, ac o'i anfodd i gychwyn dechreuodd adrodd fersiwn cyntaf y stori iddynt. Ceir llawer o gyfeiriadau hanner cuddiedig i'r pump ohonynt drwy gydol testun y llyfr ei hun a gyhoeddwyd o'r diwedd yn 1865. Cynhyrchodd Selyf Roberts drosiad Cymraeg talfyredig a ffurfiol braidd yn 1953. Yn 1982, bron i ddeng mlynedd ar hugain yn ddiweddarach, teimlai'r angen i'w ddisodli â throsiad llawn o'r newydd mewn arddull ystwythach. Argraffiad newydd yw hwn o gyfieithiad Roberts o 1982, wedi'i gysodi o'r newydd ac yn cynnwys lluniau John Tenniel. Wrth baratoi'r argraffiad hwn, gwnaethpwyd mân newidiadau i'r orgraff a'r gystrawen i gydymffurfio ag arferion cyfoes. --
Lewis Carroll is a pen-name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was the author's real name and he was lecturer in Mathematics in Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson began the story on 4 July 1862, when he took a journey in a rowing boat on the river Thames in Oxford together with the Reverend Robinson Duckworth, with Alice Liddell (ten years of age) the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, and with her two sisters, Lorina (thirteen years of age), and Edith (eight years of age). As is clear from the poem at the beginning of the book, the three girls asked Dodgson for a story and reluctantly at first he began to tell the first version of the .story to them. There are many half-hidden references are made to the five of them throughout the text of the book itself, which was published finally in 1865. Selyf Roberts produced an abridged and rather formal translation in 1953 which nearly thirty years later in 1982 he felt needed to be replaced by a full-length fresh translation in a somewhat more natural style. This is a new edition of Selyf Roberts' 1982 Welsh translation, freshly typeset and containing John Tenniel's illustrations. In preparing this edition, minor alterations have been made to the spelling and syntax to conform with current Welsh practice.
About the author
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) was an English writer and mathematician. His most notable works are 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' (1865) and 'Through the Looking Glass' (1871). He had significant influence on the literary nonsense genre and is widely celebrated for his word play and fantastical writing style.
