Peter and Donna Thomas. Peter Thomas, 260 15th Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, USA. Tel: +18315152757.
Peter Thomas, Donna Thomas and Guy Van Cleve. Goodbye Bonita Lagoon, A Papermaker’s Elegy. 2023. 80 pages. 300 x 225 mm. Neuland and wood type on cotton rag paper handmade by Peter Thomas, 10 linocut illustrations by Donna Thomas, 8 folios variously handmade using pampas grass, Kahili ginger, New Zealand flax, wild radish, century plant, bird of paradise, tule, blackberry, and a single sheet made from lawn clippings, each folio with a single cotton-rag insert. Printed on Vandercook Universal 1, Pearl Golding, Ganes Brother Gooseneck hot stamp press. 30 copies bound by Peter and Donna Thomas in a tri-fold binding with 2 leather spines and sewn accordion binding structure, cloth over boards, light green linen cloth letterpress printed with three color linocut print on front cover, and title blind stamped on spine in brown foil. Price: $975.
In each of the 8 plant-paper folios, the single sheet insert has a linocut of the plant, and name of the corresponding plant printed in various sizes and styles with wood type. The binding design both protects the fore edge and accommodates its being thinner than the spine. An inside cover board gives the viewer a substantial page to hold as the accordion is extended, as a flag book, for reading the text or viewing all the plant papers at once. The binding is an original design by Peter and Donna Thomas, based on the case bound fold-out accordion and accordion pleat spine structures described in their More Making Books by Hand (Quarry Books, 2004).