A17. The Fire of the Dragon Yudur

A17. Peter Thomas. The Fire of the Dragon Yudur. Santa Cruz, California: The Good Book Press, 1981.

25.5 x 17 cm (10” x 6 ¾”), 12 pages, 75 copies.

Binding: Quarter-bound in tan pigskin and marbled paper made by Peter & Donna Thomas. Title in gold on spine. End sheets peach. Rust-colored commercial paper dust jacket printed with title and illustration. Paper: Ivory, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Hand set Anglo. Illustration: One ornament, title, and four illustrations; all are linocuts by Donna Thomas.

“The text is a fairy tale I wrote. The purchase of a few fonts of Anglo type inspired us to print this book; the chaos of the story seemed to parallel the chaos of the type. I consider this to be my first good handmade paper. It was made after returning from a trip to Europe where I observed skilled papermakers at work and learned a few of the tricks of the trade. We always joke that we even tanned the leather in this book, as we set the leather out in the sun until it changed in color from pink to tan.”