A129. The Grand Canyon
Title
A129. The Grand Canyon
Creator
Thomas, Peter and Donna
Description
76 x 54 mm (3” x 2 1/8”), 12-page accordion, 50 copies.
Binding: Simple accordion; covers are brown and red paper over boards. Title on label on cover. Accordion is printed on both sides. Paper: Duplex sheet, off-white with umber pigmented pulp on reverse, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Text is letterpress. Illustrations are digital. Typography: Handset News Gothic; printed with a red-brown rainbow roll. Illustration: A print of the Grand Canyon spanning entire accordion, front and back. Printer’s ornaments. Some copies include reproductions of watercolor paintings by Donna Thomas sewn into the valleys of accordion’s reverse. Notes: Made for the occasion of Donna’s 50th birthday.
“Donna turned fifty in 2007 and to celebrate we took a raft trip down the Grand Canyon River. This book is one of the series of books made every so often to celebrate Donna's birthday. Those books were surprises, so I had to make them without using her artwork. I had bought a set of art deco ornaments, but not been able to find a book to feature them in, so took this as my opportunity. The text is from John Wesley Powell's 1875 book Exploring the Colorado River: ‘The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself.’ I set the first half of the quote using News Gothic type, and the second half using ornaments, replacing the letters with symbols, as in a code.
I bound up some of the edition before we left on the river trip, and gave those copies to our guides and companions on the trip. Donna painted five or six watercolors on the trip. Once home, I took those paintings, digitally reduced and printed them on my handmade paper, then sewed them into the valley folds on the back side of the accordion binding.”
Binding: Simple accordion; covers are brown and red paper over boards. Title on label on cover. Accordion is printed on both sides. Paper: Duplex sheet, off-white with umber pigmented pulp on reverse, handmade by Peter Thomas. Printing: Text is letterpress. Illustrations are digital. Typography: Handset News Gothic; printed with a red-brown rainbow roll. Illustration: A print of the Grand Canyon spanning entire accordion, front and back. Printer’s ornaments. Some copies include reproductions of watercolor paintings by Donna Thomas sewn into the valleys of accordion’s reverse. Notes: Made for the occasion of Donna’s 50th birthday.
“Donna turned fifty in 2007 and to celebrate we took a raft trip down the Grand Canyon River. This book is one of the series of books made every so often to celebrate Donna's birthday. Those books were surprises, so I had to make them without using her artwork. I had bought a set of art deco ornaments, but not been able to find a book to feature them in, so took this as my opportunity. The text is from John Wesley Powell's 1875 book Exploring the Colorado River: ‘The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself.’ I set the first half of the quote using News Gothic type, and the second half using ornaments, replacing the letters with symbols, as in a code.
I bound up some of the edition before we left on the river trip, and gave those copies to our guides and companions on the trip. Donna painted five or six watercolors on the trip. Once home, I took those paintings, digitally reduced and printed them on my handmade paper, then sewed them into the valley folds on the back side of the accordion binding.”
Publisher
Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas
Date
2007
Language
English
Files
Collection
Appears in Exhibits
Citation
Thomas, Peter and Donna, “A129. The Grand Canyon,” Digital Exhibits - UWM Libraries Special Collections, accessed November 16, 2024, https://web.uwm.edu/lib-omeka-spc2/items/show/578.