Book binder’s tools. Print by Charlotte Moore.

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.

Books made by Jacqueline Thomas have been purchased by

• 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
• Private collections in the US and the UK

Jacqueline Thomas undertakes commissioned work for artists’ books, and exhibits at the Small Publishers’ Book Fair in London and other venues. All books made to order; delivery times and shipping costs vary. Please enquire by email: jacquelinethomasbooks@talktalk.net.

Cards of Discovery

In the 17th century Thomas Tuttell, an English mathematical instrument maker, issued a set of cards which were probably designed to serve as a trade catalogue, advertising the high quality of his workmanship as well as his broad scientific knowledge. Each card in his pack described a tradesman at work, a particular instrument or a tool.

The cards in this book were inspired by those made by Thomas Tuttell, describing scientists and some of their discoveries, all of which have in some way changed the world we live in.

Specifications

• 32 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
• Hard bound with screen printed cover
• h 28 cm x w 21 cm

£80.00

Where Could I Live?

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the optimistic pioneers of early flight made every effort to launch their strange and unlikely flying machines.  Most of the designs in this book barely left the ground, yet within fifty years Man landed on the Moon. This book mixes fact and fantasy with images which might have inspired the imaginative Victorian engineers.

Specifications

• 12 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
• Soft bound with printed cover
• h 28 cm x w 22 cm

£40.00 (paper cover)

Elements

There are 92 naturally occurring elements, substances which consist entirely of atoms of the same variety. This book illustrates some of the well known and the more unusual properties of the ten most abundant elements in the Universe.

Dmitri Mendeleev is renowned for having produced in 1869 a table based on atomic weights, arranged ‘periodically’ with elements with similar properties placed under each other. Gaps were left for elements that were unknown at the time and their properties predicted. Elements continue to be isolated and gradually added to this famous table.

Specifications

• 16 pages printed on 250 gsm Somerset Satin
• soft bound with paper cover
• h 28 cm x w 21 cm

£40.00 (paper cover)

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

£60.00

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

£65.00

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

£60.00

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

£80.00

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

£130.00

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

£85.00

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