Trees

Trees, book artist Charles Hobson’s rendering of W. S. Merwin’s poem of the same title, turns this single poem into an interactive reading experience. Housed in what looks like a pencil box, Trees opens accordion-style to reveal the poem printed length-wise across the pages. Richly colored palm trees printed on transparencies emerge from the folds, hiding and revealing the text of the poem underneath as they’re turned. Two tiny architectural model palm trees fit into windows cut into the pages. Behind the second, a dark transparency fills another window. This is where the tiny flashlight included with the book comes into play: shine the flashlight at the tree and night sky transparency to throw starlight and tree shadows onto the final page, where they fit within an arc of text.

W. S. Merwin and Charles Hobson. Trees. San Francisco: Pacific Editions, with letterpress printing by JR Press, and foamcore cut by Magnolia Editions, 2010.

Image of Trees with lid removed

Trees, with the painted front cover removed to show the separate title page.

Architectural model palm tree from Trees

An architectural model palm tree within a square cutout in a foamcore page.

Model architectural palm tree with night sky transparency lit by flashlight from Trees.

Another architectural palm tree in a foamcore page, with a transparency of a night sky behind it, illuminated by flashlight.