Thomas is provided with French art books (5)
I believe the answer is:
tomes
'books' is the definition.
(tome is a kind of book)
'thomas is provided with french art' is the wordplay.
'thomas' becomes 'tom'.
'is provided with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'french art' becomes 'es' ('is' in French - 'art' can mean 'is' eg 'thou art').
'tom'+'es'='TOMES'
(Other definitions for tomes that I've seen before include "Big books" , "Large scholarly books" , "works" , "Weighty books" .)