Hand-bound artist-designer books
Jacqueline Thomas creates hand-bound limited edition books. The subjects she chooses are derived from the study of the history of science and historical and contemporary scientific imagery, which she mixes with an unusual range of ambiguously related images to create her unique compositions.
Astrophysicists, instrument makers, mathematicians and numerous others in the scientific world, use drawings, diagrams, numbers and symbols to illustrate their discoveries, inventions and achievements, and to show how things work, how they were made or how they developed. The creation of these books involves collecting visual information from the broadest fields of both science and art, and making unusual connections between the two.
Jacqueline has books in the British Library Contemporary Collection; the Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles, Goldsmiths, University of London; Kingston University, London; Stony Brook University, New York; and in private collections in the US and the UK. She undertakes commissioned work for artists’ books, and exhibits at the Small Publishers Book Fair in London and other venues. Enquiries for purchase or commissions can be made via email at jacquelinethomasbooks@talktalk.net.
Themes
Astronomy
Mathematics
Popular Science
Projects
The Books
Equations
These equations describe the most fundamental laws of our Universe, the movements and properties of every single atom. These are the tools Nature uses to describe the world in which we live.
The drawings in the background are borrowed from a book on the techniques of shadow drawings published in the 1860s.
Specifications
- 36 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
- hard bound with screen printed book cloth cover
- h 21 cm x w 24 cm
Star Co-ordinates
This book contains the coordinates of the 12 brightest stars, as seen from the Earth.
Drawings of early telescopes and contemporary photographs illustrate our efforts to discover what is out there in the Universe and beyond.
Specifications
- 36 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
- hard bound with screen printed book cloth cover
- h 21 cm x w 24 cm
Constants
The unique values of these physical constants determine the way the Universe is structured, from the gravitational pull exerted by a star to the energy levels of a hydrogen atom.
The clock mechanisms, drawn in the 1820s, are a tribute to the skill of the technical draughtsman.
Specifications
- 36 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
- hard bound with screen printed book cloth cover
- h 21 cm x w 24 cm
Srinivasa Ramanujan, Mathematician
1887 – 1920, Tamil Nadu, India
In January 1913 the eminent mathematician G.H. Hardy received a most unusual letter from the Indian subcontinent containing nine pages of wild and unimaginable theorems, sent from a clerk working in Madras, whose work was to cause a sensation in the history of mathematics.
Ramanujan was invited to Cambridge University where he worked for five productive years, returning to India in 1919 where he died only one year later at the age of 32. This book combines some of the lesser known elements of his brief life.
Specifications
- 32 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
- hard bound with screen printed book cloth cover
- h 26 cm x w 22 cm
Beyond our Planet
Annual for Boys
Designed and made in the style of annuals of the 1940s and 50s, much of the text was borrowed from a science book for schoolboys written in 1935 before the days of space exploration and the study of astrophysics.
The weight and texture of the book is intended to create the particular feel associated with annuals of the period.
Specifications
- 40 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
- hard bound with screen printed paper cover
- h 26 cm x w 21 cm
William Herschel
Astronomer and Musician, 1738-1822
Sir Frederick William Herschel was a German-born musician and astronomer who spent the greater part of his life in England. First employed as a musician, he was known for being extremely fond of the beautiful lace ruffles worn when conducting a concert.
He developed a passion for astronomy, and became the most eminent British astronomer of the 18-century, concentrating on the construction of reflectors large enough to view the most distant objects in the universe. In 1781 he discovered the planet Uranus, and in 1789 built his famous 40-foot telescope.
This book puts together images of some of Herschel’s own drawings, his discoveries, and details of celestial maps that make reference to him, combined with many different styles of lace.
Specifications
- 32 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
- hard bound with screen printed book cloth cover
- h 26 cm x w 22 cm
Vietnam
Carole Hodgson
This commissioned book was designed and made for the artist Carole Hodgson in 2008. It illustrates a series of drawings and watercolours she made during a special visit to Vietnam.
Specifications
- 18 pages printed on 250gsm Somerset Satin
- hard bound with raised map profile on book cloth
- h 21 cm x w 21 cm
Projects
Research for forthcoming books.
The Jacquard loom used counters and punched cards to store instructions for weaving textiles,
inspiring Charles Babbage to build his Victorian ‘computer’.
Elements looks at stories behind some of the most common elements in our galaxy.
