A57. The Dragon

(Left) A57. Peter Thomas. The Dragon. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 1990.

70 x 51 mm (2 ¾” x 2”), 17 pages, 4 copies.

Binding: Quarter-bound in green leather and mottled green, blue, and pink paper, handmade by Peter Thomas. Title in gold on spine. Paper: Cream with blue, pink, and purple pigment, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Digital. Typography: Digital, typeface unknown. Illustration: Five original watercolor paintings by Donna Thomas.

“In 1990 we bought our first laser printer and, enamored by the technology, wanted to use it to make a miniature book. Peter decided to use a fairy tale he had written as the text. He designed the book using PageMaker, leaving blank spaces for Donna’s illustrations. Four copies were printed and Donna hand painted each of the illustrations for each book. The subsequent three books [A56-A58] were printed using the same format with a different fairy tale inserted as the text.”