Peter & Donna Thomas, United States
LEFT / GAUCHE: Miniature Leaf Books
Letterpress printed with handmade paper by P. Thomas, sample pages from old miniature books.
Typographie imprimée sur du papier fait-main de P. Thomas, pages extraites d’anciens livres miniatures.
7 x 5.6 x 0.6 cm
2005
Fine Printing / Typographie
Artist's Statement:
A leaf book is a book that displays examples of pages from other books in it. This book describes and defines the leaf book, tells the history leaf books and then presents three tipped in miniature "leaf" pages. Each leaf sample and the book it originally came from is described in the text. These pages are from an early 19th century American Thumb Bible, a Bryce "Ellen Terry" book and a American Tract Society's Dew Drops. The book was letterpress printed on a cranky old Pearl treadle press using Joe Halton's linotype for the text and hand set Neuland for the titles. The text paper was made by Peter from bleached denim rag, the endpapers have flecks of paper from Keble's Reports (1686). The book is case-bound using Peter's handmade paper that has been toned brown with a wash of raw umber. The title on the cover, the paper the title is mounted on, and the sample on the title page are all from Keble's Reports. This text was written in 1997, and set in type in 1998, but not printed until 2005. Although Peter wrote the text, the research was based largely on information provided by John Class.
RIGHT / DROIT: The Mystical Quality of Handiwork
Letterpress printed and bound in Moroccan leather with brass cranking mechanisms, koa wood, and handmade paper by P. Thomas.
Typographie imprimée et reliée en cuir marocain avec mécanisme d’ouverture en laiton, bois de koa, et papier fait-main de P. Thomas.
7 x 4.6 x 1.5 cm
2007
Fine Printing / Typographie
Artist's Statement:
The text is an excerpt from an essay by Victor Hammer. In 2003 I was invited to give a lecture and workshop titled "Printing Miniature Books" at the King Library in Lexington, Kentucky, as part of their Fall Book Arts Seminar Series. I chose to use this text for the workshop. The type was set at the King Library Press using Hammer's own font of American Uncial type. I brought along my own handmade paper and the text was printed on it, using Hammer's wooden hand press. When the class was over I found there were 21 extra sheets. I decided to use them to make my own edition of the text and thus this edition was limited to 21 copies. The binding is a scrolling structure similar to the one we used in our 1994 "A 1000 Mile Walk to the Gulf", but with several technical improvements: the scroll is held in a beautifully figured wooden housing that has hand formed brass cranking mechanisms, the title page and colophon are mounted on panels inside the front and back cover, and a piece of Hammer's American Uncial type is affixed to the title page of each book. Each copy is full bound in black Moroccan leather and the title, mounted on wood, is affixed to the front cover.