Scotland’s Enchanting Book Sculptures Head to Auction

Eleven years ago, in March 2011, a librarian came across an enchanting paper sculpture of a tree growing out of an old book—nicknamed ‘poetree’—placed just outside the Scottish Public Library in Edinburgh. The gift came with a note, reading, “We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words…. This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas.”

The beauty and the mystery immediately captivated visitors. Three months later, another artwork appeared, this time born of a copy of Ian Rankin’s Exit Music and left at the National Library of Scotland. Following that, a series of exciting finds were made all over Edinburgh. The artist is an unidentified female paper sculptor, who, after all these years, has remained out of the spotlight while her anonymous good deeds have spread joy throughout the literary community.