A126. Miniature Leaf Books
A126. Peter Thomas. Miniature Leaf Books. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2005.
73 x 57 mm (2 7/8” x 2 ¼”), 30 pages, 127 copies.
Binding: Bound in brown paper (handmade by Peter Thomas with inclusions of paper from Keble’s Reports, tinted with a raw umber wash) over boards. Title on label attached to sample of paper from Keble’s Reports on cover. End sheets cream with inclusions of paper from Keble’s Reports. Six special copies full-bound in brown Morocco leather. Sample of paper from Keble’s Reports inset on cover, outlined with gold paper thread. Housed in a clamshell box covered in marbled paper. Title on label, attached to sample of paper from Keble’s Reports, on cover. One special copy Coptic bound. Covers are parchment and red Morocco leather over boards. Housed in a slipcase covered in parchment and red Morocco leather. Title on label attached to a sample of parchment on front cover. Paper: Handmade by Peter Thomas from bleached denim rag. Special Coptic bound copy is printed on vellum. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Text linotype unknown serif type. Titles hand set Neuland. Illustration: Three miniature leaf samples tipped in. The six special copies each have an additional parchment leaf, mounted in mat board frame on page at back of book, separated from text by leaves of marbled paper. The special copy on vellum is hand-rubricated by Donna Thomas. Notes: Title page verso includes a decorative sample from Keble’s Reports (see note in A59).
“A leaf book is a book that displays examples of pages from other books. The text defines a leaf book and presents a bibliography of miniature leaf books. I wrote the text, but the research was based largely on information provided by John Class. It was written in 1997, and set in type in 1998, but not printed until after Class had died, in 2005. Each copy has three tipped in "leaf" pages (from an American Thumb Bible, a Bryce ‘Ellen Terry’ book and an American Tract Society Dew-Drops). When I mentioned the project to bookseller Michael Garbett, he gave us six miniature leaves (pages) measuring 1 3/4 by 1 ½ inches that he had found reinforcing the spine in a copy of Sacramentale Ambrosianum, (printed in Milan in 1589.) Those leaves were clearly from an older manuscript, but their date and place of origin are unknown. We used them as additional samples for the six special copies. The copy printed on vellum did not have an additional sample."