Peter and Donna Thomas are a couple of wandering artists who chronicle their adventures in their handmade books. Donna and her friend, Katy McLaughlin, trekked the John Muir Trail in 2002, which spans approximately 210 miles through California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. Their 29-day trip inspired several artists' books in which they hike from Yosemite Valley, through the High Sierras, and summit Mt. Whitney. [slideshow_deploy id='3105'] Peter makes the paper by hand, while Donna hand paints and binds the books. These books serve as a visual memento of their journey as they paint iconic landmarks and wildflowers that appear throughout the trail. Each of these books are teeny tiny! Bananas were unavailable to provide an appropriate visual scale, but "Nature" measures in as the largest of this batch at approximately 3x4 inches. (Come visit us during our open hours to appreciate how cute they really are!) The artists' books collection in Special Collections & Archives is actively growing! Visit us to see what else we have! (FYI, the official name for teeny tiny books is "miniature books"!)
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