Dulcimer Books

57. Neal Hellman. Meeting John Jacob Niles. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2013.
    61 x 15 x 8 cm (24” x 6” x 3”).

“Binding: Simple accordion. Front cover, green leather over boards, blind stamped title. Back cover is a dulcimer that was sawn in half then hinged back together to create a spine. Text rests in chamber created between the two halves of the dulcimer. Paper: Yellow, shaped, handmade by Peter and Donna Thomas. Typography: Text handwritten and rubrication by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Watercolor paintings, hand colored digital reproductions of Hellman’s photographs from the 1960s and 1970s Notes: Photographs are hand stitched onto the text paper. The text is written on accordion-folded dulcimer-shaped handmade paper.

Hellman’s text concerns his early days playing dulcimer. The binding is made using one of Hellman’s old dulcimers. The book was made for University of Kentucky’s John Jacob Niles Collection.”