A103. Home on the Range
(Back Left) A103. John Lomax. Home on the Range. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2001.
63.5 x 44.5 mm (2 ½” x 1 ¾”), 26-page accordion, 30 copies.
Binding: Case-bound accordion; full-bound in tooled brown calfskin with a fringed flap. Secured with a leather strap through fringed flap. Paper: Off-white, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Digital. Typography: Reproduction of text handwritten by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Reproductions of twenty-four watercolor paintings by Donna Thomas. Notes: Reproduced from a one-of-a-kind of the same name by Donna Thomas [B198].
“In 2001-2 I made a series of six one-of-a-kind books that I then made digitally printed editions from before selling the originals. The original had cowboy-riding-his-horse shaped, paper-doll style pages, the cowboy and horse painted differently on each page. For the edition I printed the images on a solid background and did not cut them out. The book is bound in saddle leather, with a deerskin fringe, and blind leather tooling.” – Donna Thomas
(Front) A104. Donna Thomas. A Mushroom ABC. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2001.
57 x 44.5 mm (2 ¼” x 1 ¾”), 30-page accordion, 50 copies.
Binding: Simple accordion; covers are grey mushroom-shaped handmade paper boards. Title and illustration on green mushroom-shaped label on cover. Housed in a box covered in handmade paper with a clear plastic window. Pages are cut in the shape of a mushroom. Paper: Cream, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Digital. Typography: Reproduction of text handwritten by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Reproductions of twenty-eight watercolor paintings by Donna Thomas. Notes: Reproduced from a one-of-a-kind of the same name by Donna Thomas [B199].
“This is an alphabet book. The paintings are of twenty-six mushrooms with names ordered from A to Z.” – Peter Thomas
“I had recently met William Rubles, who lives in Santa Cruz and co-wrote Mushrooms Demystified. He taught me to identify a few local edible mushrooms. I started mushroom hunting and this book was inspired by the beauty of the mushrooms I was seeing. I cut the accordion text like I would to make a chain of paper dolls, but did it in the shape of a mushroom, then I also cut mushroom shapes out of cardboard for the covers.” –Donna Thomas
(Back Right)A105. Peter and Donna Thomas. Yosemite ABC. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2001.
57 x 41 mm (2 ¼” x 1 5/8”), 28-page accordion, 50 copies.
Binding: Case-bound accordion; glued at spine. Full-bound in green leather. “ABC” in gold on cover. Housed in a slipcase covered in green paper handmade by Peter Thomas. Reproduction of a watercolor painting by Donna Thomas on label on front. End sheets green. Paper: White, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Digital. Typography: Reproduction of text handwritten by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Reproductions of twenty-eight watercolor paintings by Donna Thomas. Notes: Reproduced from a one-of-a-kind of the same name by Donna Thomas [B200].
“This is an alphabet book. The paintings are of twenty-six locations in or natural features of Yosemite with names ordered from A to Z.” –Peter Thomas
“At this time I began experimenting with typographic elements of my one-of-a-kind books, varying my calligraphic typefaces, employing letters that changed size and/or color on a single page. For this book I painted 26 small watercolors of Yosemite landmarks, with the place names hand-drawn in a 1920s style typeface over the illustrations.” – Donna Thomas