A88. The View From Mount Dana
Title
A88. The View From Mount Dana
A90. Almost Paper
A91. A Brief History of the Ukulele
Creator
Thomas, Peter and Donna
Description
A88.
66.5 x 51 mm (2 5/8” x 2”), 9-page accordion, 97 copies.
Binding: Case-bound fold out accordion; piano-hinge binding. The dowels that form the spine are woven through slits in both the cover paper and accordion text block. Covers are paper, decorated by Donna Thomas with acrylic paint and crayon, over boards. “John Muir” in gold on cover. Paper: White with visible fibers, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress; printed from linoleum blocks. Typography: All text linocut by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Linocuts of birds, mountains, and shapes by Donna Thomas spanning entire accordion.
“We had made a number of different books using a dowel as a major structural element of the binding. Many people expressed interest in these structures. We began to notice that other artists were also making books that used dowels or wooden skewers. We joked that the accordion book had seen its fifteen minutes of fame and the next bookbinding fad would be books made with dowels. With some further thought we gave the genre a name: ‘stick structures.’
During this same time, Donna had taken a cross-country ski trip in Yosemite and had gone up Mt. Dana. Near the top, as she watched crows circling overhead she was inspired to cut the blocks for a book to be titled, The View from Mt Dana. I challenged her to design a new stick structure binding for the book. The result was the combination of a piano hinge with an accordion book, with the accordion also acting as the spine that she called the dowelled hinge spine accordion book.
Like Climb the Mountains, this is a block book: both the text and illustration were cut into the linoleum blocks that were used to print the book.”
66.5 x 51 mm (2 5/8” x 2”), 9-page accordion, 97 copies.
Binding: Case-bound fold out accordion; piano-hinge binding. The dowels that form the spine are woven through slits in both the cover paper and accordion text block. Covers are paper, decorated by Donna Thomas with acrylic paint and crayon, over boards. “John Muir” in gold on cover. Paper: White with visible fibers, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Letterpress; printed from linoleum blocks. Typography: All text linocut by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Linocuts of birds, mountains, and shapes by Donna Thomas spanning entire accordion.
“We had made a number of different books using a dowel as a major structural element of the binding. Many people expressed interest in these structures. We began to notice that other artists were also making books that used dowels or wooden skewers. We joked that the accordion book had seen its fifteen minutes of fame and the next bookbinding fad would be books made with dowels. With some further thought we gave the genre a name: ‘stick structures.’
During this same time, Donna had taken a cross-country ski trip in Yosemite and had gone up Mt. Dana. Near the top, as she watched crows circling overhead she was inspired to cut the blocks for a book to be titled, The View from Mt Dana. I challenged her to design a new stick structure binding for the book. The result was the combination of a piano hinge with an accordion book, with the accordion also acting as the spine that she called the dowelled hinge spine accordion book.
Like Climb the Mountains, this is a block book: both the text and illustration were cut into the linoleum blocks that were used to print the book.”
A90.
73 x 54 mm (2 7/8” x 2 1/8”), 20 pages, 100 copies.
Binding: Coptic binding. Covers are wooden boards. End sheets green and yellow. Paper: White, handmade by Peter and Donna Thomas. Printing: Letterpress. Printed from polymer plates. Typography: Text and titles digitally set. Titles in Lithos. Samples of paper-like materials tipped in. Notes: Received Distinguished Book Award in 1998 MBS Miniature Book Competition and Exhibition. Composed in PageMaker.
“Listening to a lecture given at the FDH meeting by Ken Grabowski about how “rice paper” is not really made from rice I first envisioned making a book with samples of all the things I could think of that were thought of as paper but not really paper. Included are tapa, amate, parchment, papyrus, Tyvek, and wasp nest with actual samples of each material.”
73 x 54 mm (2 7/8” x 2 1/8”), 20 pages, 100 copies.
Binding: Coptic binding. Covers are wooden boards. End sheets green and yellow. Paper: White, handmade by Peter and Donna Thomas. Printing: Letterpress. Printed from polymer plates. Typography: Text and titles digitally set. Titles in Lithos. Samples of paper-like materials tipped in. Notes: Received Distinguished Book Award in 1998 MBS Miniature Book Competition and Exhibition. Composed in PageMaker.
“Listening to a lecture given at the FDH meeting by Ken Grabowski about how “rice paper” is not really made from rice I first envisioned making a book with samples of all the things I could think of that were thought of as paper but not really paper. Included are tapa, amate, parchment, papyrus, Tyvek, and wasp nest with actual samples of each material.”
A91.
73 x 54 mm (2 7/8” x 2 1/8”), 22 pages, 50 copies.
Binding: Case-bound accordion; glued at spine. Quarter-bound in black Morocco leather and brown goatskin over “U” shaped boards. Label with laser print illustration of a ukulele on cover. Paper: Yellow, handmade by Peter Thomas; cut in the shape of a ukulele. Printing: Digital. Typography: Reproduction of text handwritten by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Reproductions of twenty watercolor paintings of ukuleles by Donna Thomas. Notes: Includes pop-up panels.
"The first editioned books Peter and I made were letterpress. That technology was best suited to line drawn art, so my illustrations were woodcuts, linocuts, or pen and ink drawings printed from photo engravings. My artistic palate was limited. Printing full-color woodcuts was difficult and I would often hand paint my illustrations to get colored illustrations in our books. When digital technology became accessible to me, I discovered that a laser copier could be used to print my color images onto Peter’s handmade paper. I had already been making one-of-a-kind books with my own calligraphy and illustrations, and this allowed me to make editioned books using the same techniques.
Peter was starting to play ukulele at this time, at the forefront of the modern revival of interest in the ukulele, and he was in contact with Jim Beloff who was writing the first published history of the ukulele. This became the first miniature book to document the history of the ukulele, and the first editioned book I made using digital printing technology to reproduce one of my original one of a kind books. My aim in making this image-rich edition was to both inform and engage the reader. I wanted them to feel a visual delight as they read the text, enriched not only by the information, but by the images, the unique page format with the pop-up panels, and the sumptuous rounded bottom leather binding - all these aesthetic attributes contributing to their experience of reading the book.” – Donna Thomas
73 x 54 mm (2 7/8” x 2 1/8”), 22 pages, 50 copies.
Binding: Case-bound accordion; glued at spine. Quarter-bound in black Morocco leather and brown goatskin over “U” shaped boards. Label with laser print illustration of a ukulele on cover. Paper: Yellow, handmade by Peter Thomas; cut in the shape of a ukulele. Printing: Digital. Typography: Reproduction of text handwritten by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Reproductions of twenty watercolor paintings of ukuleles by Donna Thomas. Notes: Includes pop-up panels.
"The first editioned books Peter and I made were letterpress. That technology was best suited to line drawn art, so my illustrations were woodcuts, linocuts, or pen and ink drawings printed from photo engravings. My artistic palate was limited. Printing full-color woodcuts was difficult and I would often hand paint my illustrations to get colored illustrations in our books. When digital technology became accessible to me, I discovered that a laser copier could be used to print my color images onto Peter’s handmade paper. I had already been making one-of-a-kind books with my own calligraphy and illustrations, and this allowed me to make editioned books using the same techniques.
Peter was starting to play ukulele at this time, at the forefront of the modern revival of interest in the ukulele, and he was in contact with Jim Beloff who was writing the first published history of the ukulele. This became the first miniature book to document the history of the ukulele, and the first editioned book I made using digital printing technology to reproduce one of my original one of a kind books. My aim in making this image-rich edition was to both inform and engage the reader. I wanted them to feel a visual delight as they read the text, enriched not only by the information, but by the images, the unique page format with the pop-up panels, and the sumptuous rounded bottom leather binding - all these aesthetic attributes contributing to their experience of reading the book.” – Donna Thomas
Publisher
Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas
Date
1997
Language
English
Files
Collection
Appears in Exhibits
Citation
Thomas, Peter and Donna, “A88. The View From Mount Dana,” Digital Exhibits - UWM Libraries Special Collections, accessed November 18, 2024, https://web.uwm.edu/lib-omeka-spc2/items/show/550.