Papermaking in Seventeenth Century England and Celia Fiennes, a Record of Seventeenth Century Papermaking Peter and Donna Thomas (260 Fifteenth Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95062, USA), 1990. 17 x 12.8 cm, 42 pp., and 6.7 x 5 cm, 22 pp., respectively. Both books include paper sample and are illustrated by Donna Thomas. Papermaking... printed on paper made by Peter Thomas, bound in brown goat skin, with slip case, 200 copies: $165. Celia Fiennes... printed on 17th century paper, 200 copies, 1-25 with original watercolor: $75 for numbers 1-25, $42 for leather binding & $32 for 17th century paper binding of 26-200. Two new books from Peter and Donna Thomas (The Good Book Press), one of them a miniature, add to their growing list of books on papermaking. These book makers, who personally undertake almost every step along the way---papermaking, design, typesetting, printing, illustrating, and binding---have produced here works which supplement their already impressive body of mostly miniature works. Papermaking in Seventeenth Century England, the larger book of these two, contains descriptions of the hand papermaking process as observed by two seventeenth century English diarists, John Evelyn and Celia Fiennes. Although both are very brief, they are important for being this era's only known accounts of an historically secretive trade. While each diarist describes essentially the same basic steps to the papermaking process, there are subtle differences, and these have caught the publishers' attention. Peter Thomas focuses on specific and important details in writing his extensive historical commentary, which considerably exceeds the original text in length. This is clearly a commentary written by a papermaker for papermakers, as the bulk of the notes explain or offer possible reasons why the information documented in the primary text differs from commonly understood papermaking steps. These notes often point out that some of the details described by these diarists, who were otherwise inexperienced with papermaking, were probably misunderstandings. Similarly, definitions of the changed meaning of some of the words used, taken from a dictionary relatively contemporary with the diaries, helps make the accounts coherent. In large part this commentary is quite useful, putting the diary entries in the proper context and supplying insightful explanations along the way. The presentation of the book is particularly noteworthy. Two paper samples are tipped in, each illustrating one of the papers described in the diary entries: an actual sample of white paper from the seventeenth century, taken from a book of that period, and a reproduction of a brown paper. These are nice touches, providing the reader with a tactile sample of the subject at hand. While it is certainly understandable that no historical sample of seventeenth century brown paper was available, as this paper was used mostly for ephemeral purposes such as wrapping and blotting, unfortunately only the name of the papermaker, Ray Tomasso, is given to describe the brown paper sample. No information appears as to how it was made, which is unexpected given the amount of detail supplied in the commentary. Knowing the fibers used in making this paper would have been of particular interest. Without any description, the paper loses some credibility as an authentic reproduction. For some reason, the brown sample is placed in the book at the end of the section describing the manufacture of white paper, and the white sample appears at the end of the section describing the manufacture of brown paper. The Thomases faced a challenge in presenting a short text with an accompanying long commentary and are successful in printing the source document in red italic type at the top of each page with the comments in black roman type beneath. This is an interesting variation on the way biblical commentaries are presented. The text pages are visually appealing and accentuate the differences in the language used in each section. It also presents alternative possibilities for reading the work: the text can be read alone; the notes can be read as they are referenced in the text; and even the notes can be read alone. This flexibility gives particular interest to this book as an object open to multiple "readings." The text paper in the book is made by Peter Thomas and provides a warm but unobtrusive ground for the presentation of the material. The end papers, also clearly handmade but not identified in the colophon, provide more interest; they are a light brown with darker flecks. Several rough linocut illustrations, by Donna Thomas, suggest what the mills described might have looked like, inside and out. The book is beautifully but simply bound in brown goat skin, with raised bands on the spine and the title stamped on the cover. The second of these two books uses as its text the diary entry of Celia Fiennes as it appears, with commentary, in the first book. The presentations of this material is, however, somewhat different. Celia Fiennes... is a miniature book, immediately characteristic for having been cleverly printed on and, in the reviewed edition, bound in paper taken from a seventeenth century book. The title and text pages have been cut from the margins of pages of this original book, while pages from the original--text, subtitles, and all--are used for the binding and end pages. Having been raised with a reverence for the sanctity of books, my initial reaction to the disconcerting notion that one book was cut apart to create another was calmed by the recognition that the seventeenth century book sacrificed here appears to have been a dry legal work. That the pages are somewhat discolored and show some foxing is typical of the paper made for two hundred years or so on either side of the period documented in the diaries. Due mostly to the strikingly increased demand for paper starting in the 16th century, papermaking changed from a careful, exacting art to a more utilitarian, commercial trade. The quality of the product is acknowledged to have suffered as a result. A sample of the same reproduction brown paper which is included in the larger book is also supplied here (this time appropriate with the text), although the same lack of information once again diminishes its usefulness. As in the larger book, the text and commentary are presented on each page in italic and roman, top and bottom, respectively, although here all of the type is black and the effect is less striking. Three illustrations by Donna Thomas appear in this miniature. The binding of this tiny work is a marvel, including the finely-worked headband. For those papermakers who have an appreciation for finely made books and for collectors of material on papermaking these two books from Peter and Donna Thomas present an important addition. That many of the recent works by these two book makers have turned toward the subject of papermaking is encouraging for their production of more in the near future. Michael Durgin

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