Alphabet People (1989)
Alphabet People (1989)
Peter and Donna Thomas
Miniature codex with illustrated paper over boards, endband, sewn. H60.5 x W47.5 mm. 64 pages. Edition of 200, of which this is an artist’s proof. Acquired from Bromer’s Books, 16 February 2023.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.
Peter and Donna Thomas have made several alphabet artists’ books. One made in the shape of an Apple MAC, one in the shape of mushrooms, one celebrating views of Yosemite, one for musical instruments (accordion to zither, of course), one for spring wildflowers and one, of course, just for the letters themselves.
This one may be their earliest. Handset in Greeting Monotone and letterpress printed by Peter Thomas on peach-colored handmade paper. The same paper is used for covering the boards. As with all the initials in the book, the alphabet on the cover and pastedown title card is inked in red. The illustrations are reproductions of twenty-seven line drawings by their daughter Tanya Thomas.
Seen end-on, the book shows some of its fine press features, especially the two-color sewn endbands and tight turn-ends of the cover paper. Handmade paper characterizes much of the Thomases’ output, and their interest in papermaking has extended as far as Africa, the Philippines and Totnes, Devon, England.
They Made the Paper at Tuckenhay Mill (2016)
They Made the Paper at Tuckenhay Mill (2016)
Peter and Donna Thomas, ed.
Paperback, perfect bound. H280 x W220 mm. 120 pages. Acquired from the artists, 22 June 2022.
Photo of cover: Books On Books Collection.
From the publisher’s description of the second edition:
A self-taught hand papermaker, Peter Thomas became interested in knowing how apprentice-trained hand papermakers working in production hand papermills made paper. He especially wanted to learn the “vatman’s shake,” the series of motions that papermakers used to form their sheets of paper. This desire circuitously led him and Donna to Tuckenhay, near Totnes, Devon, in England, where beginning in 1988, they recorded several hand papermakers, returning to make others in 1990 and 1994. The book begins with a short history of Tuckenhay Mill and the story about meeting the papermakers and recording their interviews. This is followed by eight interviews of men and women, some of whom worked in the Mill from between the World Wars until it closed in 1970. All of the papermakers are now deceased, but the stories – in their own words – remain an extraordinary, entertaining, and timeless record of their lives and work. In the 1830s, Richard Turner started manufacturing paper by hand in the Tuckenhay Mill, and paper was continuously made by hand there until 1962. From then until 1970, the Mill produced pulp (half-stuff) until the business went bankrupt….
The Thomases’ works are well represented at in University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Special Collections. Some of the several particularly related to papermaking — as well as other paper-related ones from the Books On Books Collection — are listed below. Any study of the intersection of book art and paper could not help but include Peter and Donna Thomas.
Further Reading
“Abecedaries I (in progress)“, Books On Books Collection, 31 March 2020.
“The First Seven Years of the Rijswijk Paper Biennial“. 10 October 2019. Books On Books Collection.
“Looking Back and Forward from the Paper Biennial 2018“. 24 June 2018. Books On Books Collection.
“Helen Hiebert“. 18 June 2021. Books On Books Collection.
“Maureen Richardson“. 28 September 2019. Books On Books Collection.
“Fred Siegenthaler“. 10 January 2021. Books On Books Collection.
Hunter, Dard. 1978. Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft, 2nd ed. New York: Dover. Republication of the second, revised and enlarged 1947 edition.
Hiebert, Helen. 2000. The papermaker’s companion: the ultimate guide to making and using handmade paper. North Adams, MA: Storey Pub.
Hiebert, Helen. “Strange Papers“, Helen Hiebert Studio, 12 August 2014. Accessed 3 November 2020.
Hiebert, Helen, and Melissa Potter. 2016. The secret life of paper: 25 years of works in paper. Kalamazoo, MI: Kalamazoo Book Arts Center.
Kurlansky, Mark. 2017. Paper: Paging through History. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Müller, Lothar. 2016. White Magic: The Age of Paper. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Sansom, Ian. 2012. Paper: an elegy. New York, NY: Wm. Morrow.
Thomas, Donna. 2001. A Mushroom ABC. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Thomas, Peter. 1988. Shakespeare on Papermills. Santa Cruz, CA: The Good Book Press.
Thomas, Peter. 1990. Papermaking in Seventeenth Century England. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Thomas, Peter and Donna, eds. 1994. A Collection of Paper Samples from Hand Paper Mills in the United States of America. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Thomas, Peter and Donna. 1996. MAC’s ABCs. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Thomas, Peter and Donna, compilers. 1999. Paper From Plants. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Thomas, Peter and Donna. 2001. Yosemite ABC. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Thomas, Peter and Donna. 2002. Accordion to Zither. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Thomas, Peter and Donna. 2006. Spring Wildflower ABC. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Thomas, Peter and Donna. 2015. Letters. Santa Cruz, CA: Peter & Donna Thomas.
Vincent, Jessica. “Indigenous Women Are Publishing the First Maya Works in Over 400 Years”, Atlas Obscura, 08 August 2019. Accessed 27 October 2020.
Weber, Therese. 2008. The language of paper: a history of 2000 years. Bangkok, Thailand: Orchid Press.
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