Beyond bombs and burning...

I posted my three books for the Al-Mutanabbi St project off to the UK today.

Here is what I said about them:

This book reminds us that even when books are burned, the ideas and thoughts within them survive. They are absorbed into people’s minds; they are shared between friends; and they become even more powerful. In this book, burned pages are held within light timber covers, which can be read as a sacred object or as a book. 

The quotes used are: 
Every burned book enlightens the world (Ralph Waldo Emerson) 
The paper burns but the words fly away (Akiba Ben Joseph) 
Books cannot be killed by fire (Franklin D Roosevelt)

I had thought I would do a concertina book; but couldn't find an elegant or meaningful solution. Then I thought I might wrap the pages and bind them somehow, but I couldn't find a good way to do that either. I started to see in my mind's eye the bifold doors of an icon - the back panel with two side panels, and thought that might work with my three pages.

And so it was.

Standing, the first glimpses.

Fully open, standing.

Fully open, lying flat like a book.

We bought the beautiful small hinges in Prague last year - with the notion of using them on books well and truly in my mind. This then led to the trick about how to attach them to covered grey board covers, and so I turned to wood. But not wood that might cause customs problems in differing countries where they travel; rather balsa wood which is light, clean and crosses borders well. It is also  bit delicate, and will bear the marks of being handled.

The pages in more detail.

The three books together.

I have made an edition of 5 and I will keep one book for myself and the other will be available for sale at some point. I wish them safe travels.