1996-2019

1. Peter Thomas. DBIJEP. Canberra, Australia: GIW, 1996.
   76 x 76 mm (3” x 3”), 7 pages, 20 copies.

Binding: Folded paper case binding; black commercial paper cover. End sheets red, sewn to text block and slipped into folded paper case. Held by a folded red commercial paper sleeve. Paper: White, commercial. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Hand set type. Each page set in a different typeface. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the Canberra School of Art in Canberra, Australia.

“This was made while we were visiting artists at Petr Herel’s Graphic Investigation Workshop at the Canberra School of Art. I had been studying ancient handwritten acrostic manuscripts, and was curious about the typographic possibilities and challenges found translating this typography into hand set type, so posed that challenge to the students. Each page was conceived as a visual poem, and made by a different student in the class. I made a page composed of solid letter and highlighted words by stenciling out blocks of color. Each student got a copy and Donna and I got the rest of the edition, which we bound while still in Australia.”

2. Peter and Donna Thomas, comp. Colours. Canberra, Australia: Studio One, 1996.
   22 x 15 cm (8 ¾” x 5 ¾”), 11 pages, 10 copies.
   Binding: Folded paper case binding; white commercial paper cover. Text block is sewn over tapes laced through front and back covers. End sheets white commercial paper, sewn to text block and slipped into folded paper case. Housed in a folded black commercial paper slipcase. Paper: Nine sheets off-white commercial paper; two sheets off-white paper with colored thread inclusions, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Hand set. Illustrations: Eight illustrations, each done by a different participant, using various techniques including etching, relief print, and pochoir.

“While in Australia we were invited to teach a weekend workshop at Studio One, a professional art workshop in Canberra. I brought along a text I had been considering, a quote by Goethe, as a starting place for the collaboration. During the workshop Donna and the class members all made illustrations in response to the quote, while I set type and then letterpress printed a title page and a text page with the quote. Each person then bound his or her own book. The eleven folio sheets of paper were sewn over tapes, which were then laced through the covers. The end sheets were subsequently slipped under the turned in folds of the paper case cover.”

3. Peter and Donna Thomas comp. Colors. Canberra, Australia: Hobart, 1996.
   19 x 14 cm (7 ½” x 5 ½”), 32 pages, 18 copies.

Binding: Folded paper case binding; green painted commercial paper cover. End sheets sewn to text block and slipped into folded paper case. Paper tapes run head to tail through front and back covers, end sheets and paper spine, lacing them all together. End sheets commercial Canson. Housed in a folded green commercial paper slipcase. Paper: Canson, various colors. Printing: Title and text are pochoir printed through stencils cut by Donna Thomas. Typography: Letters cut by Donna Thomas into stencils. Illustration: Sixteen illustrations, each done by a different participant using various techniques including collage, pen and ink, watercolor, and rubber stamping. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the Tasmanian College of the Arts in Hobart, Australia.

“After leaving Canberra we went to Tasmania to teach a workshop at the Tasmanian College of the Arts. We used the same quote by Goethe as a starting place, interested to see how these students would respond. Each person bound their own book. We taught various techniques for paper decoration that we were currently using and each participant made their own cover paper, so each binding was unique. The 20 folio sheets of paper were divided into nine sections and two end sheets, then sewn together using an unsupported sewing technique we had developed.”

4. Anne Waldman. From ‘Marriage: A Sentence.’ Boulder, Colorado: Peter & Donna Thomas, 1999.
   76 x 54 mm (3” x 2 1/8”), 9 pages, 16 copies.

Binding: 8-fold accordion. Housed in a painted folded paper slipcase. Paper: White commercial. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Multiple sizes and types. Printed in multiple color runs. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the 1999 Summer Writing Program (SWP) at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Text paper folded as an “O” cut folded book (for description see note for Saroyan [A64]).

“This was the first project for a class we taught for the SWP. Anne Waldman was the director of the SWP, and provided us with a long poem titled ‘Marriage’ as a text to work with. Each student chose a few words from the poem to set and print. A single sheet was printed on one side with the words, and on the other side with a colophon. Then using a little book artists’ parlor trick, we slit and folded the sheet to create what appears to be an eight-page booklet made of two nested French-folded pages.”

5. Peter and Donna Thomas. Nine Poets. [Boulder, Colorado: n.p., 1999.]
   76 x 60 mm (3” x 2 3/8”), 10 pages, 30 copies.

Binding: “Dowel spine portfolio”; a single sheet of paper is folded to create pockets on front and back inside covers and held together by a wooden dowel inserted through slits in the spine. Portfolio cover paper is hand painted. Title on label on cover. Ten broadsides housed in the pockets of the portfolio. Paper: Handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress, each page printed a different color. Typography: Hand set in various metal typefaces. Notes: There are nine poems and a colophon. Each broadside is signed on the back by the poet. Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students in their class at the 1999 Summer Writing Program at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

“This was the second project we made with this class. Each student was paired with a writing faculty member, asked them for a short quote or a few words, then set that in type and printed it as a broadside. The binding structure, which we have come to call the ‘dowel spine portfolio,’ was invented while we were teaching this workshop. The Harry Smith Print Shop did not have a bindery, so we did not have our usual tools and materials available. That lack led to our gain, as it forced us to become inventive and to develop this structure.”

6. Naomi Shihab Nye. Problems with the Story. San Antonio, Texas: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2001.
   57 x 83mm (2 ¼” x 3 ¼”), two 5-page accordions, 30 copies.

Binding: “Dowel-spine portfolio”; a single sheet of paper is folded to create pockets on front and back inside covers and held together by a wooden dowel inserted through slits in the spine. Portfolio cover paper is off-white handmade paper with colored letters and numbers stenciled in paper pulp, made by students during the class. The text is printed on two off-white handmade paper accordions that are housed in the pockets of the portfolio. Paper: Handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress; text in red. Typography: Hand set, each page set in a different typeface. Notes: Signed by the author. Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas.

“The poet visited the class and read this poem. Each student was assigned one portion of the poem. They chose a typeface that to them related to their words, hand set the type, and then printed it on my handmade paper, which I had brought for use in the classes.”

7. Peter and Donna Thomas comp. Open House. San Antonio, Texas: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2001.
   38 x 67 mm (1 ½” x 2 7/8”), 8 pages, 30 copies.

Binding: Simple accordion; covers are blue painted paper over boards. A blue string is threaded through the book and passed through a silver bead on front cover that acts as a clasp. Paper: White, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress; text black, background multiple colors. Typography: Hand set in various metal typefaces. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas.

“The poet visited the class, and read this poem. We discussed the poem, both what type faces might best represent the content and what kind of binding structure would help convey the meaning of the poem. Looking at a folded accordion from the side, we came up with the concept that accordion folded pages could be seen as the front steps leading into a house. Students then came up with words they thought expressive/representative of the poem to be printed as background imagery on the paper. Each student handset and letterpress printed, in various sizes and typefaces, and various colors of inks, the word of their choosing. The poem was then printed in black ink over the lightly printed background. We then developed this variation on a simple accordion binding for the project. Working thematically with the poem we came up with the idea to string a piece of thread through the front cover, through one side of the accordion pages, through the back cover, across the back cover, then back through the other side of the accordion pages and out through the front cover, representing a physical railing, and conceptually our physical limits. The two ends of the thread pass through a bead over the front cover. The bead slides on the thread to secure the book shut.”

8. Peter Thomas. The Story of Icarus, or The Fear of Flying. Santa Cruz, California: n.p., 2004.
   292 x 298 x 19 mm (11 ½” x 11 ¾” x ¾”), 64 pages, 14 copies.

Binding: Folded paper case binding; black folded commercial paper cover. Black end sheets sewn to text block and slipped into folded paper case. Housed in a white cardboard pizza box. Paper: Off-white commercial. Printing: Relief. Typography: Title page linocut by Frank Trueba. Illustrations: Twenty-eight relief prints made by the fourteen collaborators pasted in. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with Bridger Henry, Elizabeth Williams, and students at the Santa Cruz Art League in Santa Cruz, California.

“This was a multi-week evening class. I brought the Greek myth of Theseus as a starting point for the projects. This book is a reflection on the story of Icarus and Daedalus. The illustrations are divided into 4 sections: earth, air, fire, and water. Artwork was relief printed on separated sheets of paper then glued to the text paper. Each person bound their own copy.”

9. Peter and Donna Thomas comp. Naropa. [Boulder, Colorado]: n.p., 2004.
   161 x 32 mm (6 ¼” x 1 ¾”), 8 pages, 10 copies.

Binding: “Dowel spine portfolio”; a single piece of paper is folded to create pockets on front and back inside covers and held together by an oblong strip of painted wood inserted through slits in the spine. Portfolio paper is printed with words featured on the broadsides. Eight broadsides housed in the pockets of the portfolio. Paper: Various colors of commercial Canson. Printing: Letterpress. Notes: Seven broadsides and one title page. The title page verso is signed by the participants. Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the 2004 Summer Writing Program at Naropa University.

“This was the first of two portfolios of broadsides we made during the SWP workshop. This first one was intended to be simpler; each broadside had only a few words of the students’ choice, which they hand set and letterpress printed. Students learned letterpress basics as we printed the text, and gained bookbinding skills when we made the ‘dowel spine portfolio structure’ to hold the broadsides. The title page is conceptual: The title, Naropa, and the date, 2004 are printed horizontal, with the place, abbreviated as SWP, running vertically between the title and date. ”

10. Peter and Donna Thomas. Wake Up. [Boulder, Colorado]: n.p., 2004.
    20 x 15 cm (7 ¾” x 6”), 11 pages, 30 copies.

Binding: “Dowel spine portfolio”; a single piece of painted paper is folded to create pockets on front and back inside covers and held together by a green pencil inserted through slits in the spine. Eleven broadsides are housed in the pockets of the portfolio. Paper: White, commercial Somerset mould made. Printing: Letterpress; title in yellow and green split fountain. Typography: Hand set in various metal and wood typefaces. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the 2004 Summer Writing Program at Naropa University. Each broadside is signed by the participant who made it. Two of the broadsides are unsigned, one is printed with the title and the other is printed with the colophon.

“This was the second project of the week. Every Summer Writing Program has a different focus and this week it was political activism. Each student was paired with one of the poets in residence that week, asked them for a short poem or a few words, then hand set and letterpress printed the text as a broadside. The poets include Anne Waldman, Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Kristin Prevallet, Rachel Levitsky, Alan Gilbert, Bob Holman, Laird Hunt, and Eliot Katz. Each broadside is signed by its poet. In addition, Donna and I printed both title and colophon pages. The students assisted in hand painting and assembling the portfolios. We used the dowel spine portfolio as a binding, with a pencil holding it together (the pen is mightier than the sword) as a political statement.”

11. Peter and Donna Thomas comp. In the Middle. [Murfreesboro, Tennessee]: n.p., 2004.
    29 x 22 cm (11¼” x 8½”), 13 pages and 12 scrolls, 24 copies.

Binding: Bound in painted paper over boards. Title page and twelve one-page essays are stab bound through a flap at the top of the end sheet on the front inside cover. Twelve scrolls are wound around wood dowels and inserted into holes drilled in a two-inch thick aromatic cedar block attached to back inside cover. Paper: Essays printed on recycled paper. Scrolls printed on commercial art paper. Printing: Digital and letterpress. Typography: Essays digital, typeface unknown. Scrolls and title page hand set wood type; printed in various colors. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at Middle Tennessee State University. Signed by the seminar participants.

“We developed the concept and the structure for this book at Middle Tennessee State University's Tulip Poplar Press during the Visiting Artist Seminar, March 1-5, 2004. Twelve students worked under their direction. Each student was required to write a one-page essay that discussed their relationship to their geographic or cultural regional environment, to choose a literary quote that related to what they had written, and, finally, to choose one or two words that reflected the essence of what they had written. The essay and quote were then laser printed on recycled paper, stab sewn together and attached to the inside of the front cover of the book. To enhance the project’s theme regarding MTSU’s geographic location, large slabs of freshly milled aromatic Tennessee Cedar were acquired from a nearby sawmill. It was cut to size, sanded, and twelve 1" holes were drilled into it. The blocks were then glued to the back cover of the book. The students each letterpress printed their one or two words on 12" x 2" strips of art paper, using various sizes and fonts of wood type printed in various colors of ink. These strips were then rolled up and placed in the holes in the slab of cedar. The covers were made using paper decorated with acrylic paints over cardboard. MTSU is in the geographic center of the state. The students worked diligently to make sure that all elements of the book work together to express the physical and cultural aspects of the regional geography of middle Tennessee. Each student received a copy and several went to the University. The cedar was freshly milled and therefore quite oily. The oil leached out of the wood and into both the scrolls and the text paper. Because of this failure, although we had made 10 copies to sell, we never sold any of those copies, but they have been given several to library collections as examples of that failure.”

12. Peter Thomas. [Exploring the Book]. Vancouver, British Colombia: Peter & Donna Thomas. 2005.
    Scrolling Book: 19 x 22 x 4 cm (7 ½” x 8 ½” x 1 ½”).
    Canister: 27 cm diameter x 4 cm (10 ¾” diameter x 1 ¾”).
    8 unique copies.

Binding: Scroll, wound over painted wood dowels at both ends. Dowels pass through holes in two oblong pieces of wood attached to a wood board. All wood is painted blue with geometric patterns in blue, green, red, and yellow. Housed in a tin film canister. Title, signatures, and publication information on label on canister lid. Paper: Various commercial papers. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Hand set in various typefaces. Notes: Made by Peter Thomas in collaboration with students at the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada. Each copy differs; this description is of Peter Thomas’s copy.

“The class was titled ‘Exploring the Book’ after our recently published bookbinding manual. Students learned to print using the school’s letterpress equipment, and to bind some of the structures outlined in our book, More Making Books by Hand. Inspired by Vancouver’s film industry, and the acquisition of 10 used film tins, we decided to use film for the theme of the final project. We used the scrolling book structure as a jumping-off point. Each student printed a quote of their choice, printing enough copies to give one to each of the other students. These were sewn into a scroll, held in a wooden structure built to fit in the film tins. All of the structures were similar, but varied in size, construction and color. The order in which the pages were sewn into scrolls also varied. I also added pages from the school catalog describing my class, which led me to title my copy as I did. The book’s titles were written on the outside of the film tins just as had been done for the movies that used to be in them.”

13. Peter and Donna Thomas, comp. Where the Crossing Happens. [Boulder, Colorado]: n.p., 2008.
    17 x 13cm (6 ¾” x 5 ¼”), 15 pages, 38 copies.

Binding: “Dowel spine portfolio”; a single piece of paper is folded to create pockets on front and back inside covers and held together by a flat black stick inserted through slits in the spine. Fifteen broadsides are housed in the pockets of the portfolio. Portfolio decorated with a unique acrylic print made indirectly from metal type. Paper: Various colors Canson Mi Teintes. Some copies printed on tan paper, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Hand set in various metal typefaces. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at Naropa University’s Summer Writing Program in Boulder, Colorado. Broadside with colophon is signed by the students. Each broadside is signed by the author of the poem.

“Each student was paired with one of the poets in residence that week, asked them for a short poem or a few words, then hand set and letterpress printed the text as a broadside. The poets included Sawako Nakayasu, Ilya Kaminsky, Rikki Ducornet, Forrest Gander, Anna Moschovakis, Bob Holman, Anne Tardos, Dodie Bellamy, Steven Taylor, Brian Evenson, Kevin Killian, Raymond Federman, and Pierre Joris. The broadsides were signed by the authors. In addition, I printed title and colophon pages. The students assisted in hand painting and assembling the portfolios. Each student and poet were given a portfolio. For a description of how the cover paper was made see the entry for Not Paper [A139].”

14. Peter and Donna Thomas. Free Little Bird. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2011.
    11 x 6 cm (4 ½” x 2 ¼”), 8 pages, 20 copies.

Binding: Nested accordion, covers are cream paper, handmade by Peter Thomas and students in the class, over shaped boards. Secured with twine tied through a hole in the right-hand side of the front cover and a stone bead. Pages are cut so that there is the silhouette of a bird at the top of each face of the larger accordion. Paper: Accordion structures are Canson text-weight. Text, illustrations, and colophon printed on cream paper handmade by Peter Thomas and students in the class. Printing: Text is relief. Colophon is digital. Typography: Text linocut by Donna Thomas. Colophon digital reproduction of text handwritten by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Seven linocuts by Donna Thomas. Notes: Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina.

“This book was the final project of a week-long class where students learned how to make the bindings in our book More Making Books by Hand. The text for this book is the chorus of a folk song the Folk School director sang the first morning of every session. Students made the paper for the cover, text, and illustrations. The covers are shaped to mimic the wings of a bird and the pages are cut paper-doll-style with the silhouette of a bird above the nested accordion cut out.”

15. William Everson. Excerpts. [San Francisco]: [Peter & Donna Thomas], 2011.                                                                               17.8 x 21.6 cm. (7 x 8.5 in.), 8 pages and 8 French-fold pages, 10 copies.   
16. T. S. Elliot. Wandering. Lafayette, Colorado: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2011.
    18 x 12 cm (7” x 5”), 6 pages, 14 copies.

Binding: Flap book; bound in printed commercial paper over boards. Pages sewn over one rotating wooden dowel. Dowel inserted into holes drilled in two oblong pine wood blocks attached vertically to the back inside cover. All wood stained blue. Inside cover paper is printed commercial paper. Paper: Cream, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress. Typography: Wood and metal types. Illustration: One linocut by Donna Thomas. Printers’ ornaments. Notes: Cover paper and inside cover paper are letterpress printing on old topographic maps. Made by Peter and Donna Thomas in collaboration with students at the Book Arts League in Lafayette, Colorado.

“The theme for this collaboration was wandering, inspired by the trip we were on. The text is an excerpt from T. S. Eliot's poem ‘Four Quartets.’ The cover paper and end sheets are old topographic maps embellished with letterpress printed letters and images. When the flap pages are folded back, a previously hidden illustration (cut by Donna during the class) is revealed.”

17. Peter and Donna Thomas. Letters. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2015.
    141 x 61 mm (5 ½” x 2 ¼”), 52 pages, 46 copies.

Binding: Accordion; printed commercial paper covers. Individual pages are attached to both sides of an accordion-folded “spine.” Housed in a printed paper slipcase made to look like an envelope and held shut with a brass brad. Paper: White commercial. Printing: Letterpress; hand stamping; digital. Illustration: Digital and hand-stamped illustrations created by the collaborators and Donna Thomas. Notes: The binding is a unique variation of the “flag book” structure (see Ukulele Series Book #11: The Concertina Ukulele [C43]). Made in collaboration with students in Kathleen O’Connell’s book arts and letterpress classes at Middle Tennessee University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

18. Peter and Donna Thomas, compilers. Ghost Ranch. Paper, Print, Bind. Abiquiu, N.M.: FDH [Peter & Donna Thomas], 2016. 51 x 76 mm. (2 x 3 in.) [30] page accordion, 15 flag pages. 20 copies                      
19. Peter and Donna Thomas, compilers. Hardest Hue. [Eugene, Oregon]: Lane Community College [Peter & Donna Thomas], 2019. 10 x 7.6 cm. (4 x 3 in.) [31] page accordion, 15 flag pages. 18 copies.