Book By Its Cover » The Night Life of Trees

4.24.08

The Night Life of Trees

Bhajju Shyam, Durga Bai, Ram Singh Urveti

I couldn’t wait to get this book up to share since I returned from Montreal but there was the guest blog from A.J.-thanks again!- and then my “short pause.” I am just in love with this book-it could possibly have made it to the top of my all time favorites. The whole book is crafted by hand, each page is silkscreened on handmade paper in India by a commune of printers from local villages. (The India publisher Tara Publishing will be getting many orders from me in the coming weeks.) The book features a tree on every page printed on black paper- the colors almost glow- they are so intense. The intricate pattern filled drawings are made by three artists of the Gond tribe of Central India- Bhajju Shyam, Durga Bai, and Ram Singh Urveti and each is accompanied by a short paragraph of folklore. This book is more beautiful than I can ever describe- so just get yourself one- it’s an edition of 1000. (I really want to try printing on black paper now!) I got mine from Drawn & Quarterly store in Montreal but you can also order it direct from Tara Publishing here. Despite all the handmade-ness this book retails at only forty bucks- amazing!

trees2 trees7
trees6 trees5
trees4 trees3

15 Comments

04/24/08 10:15am

sarajo wrote

what a fantastic looking book! i followed your link about the artist bhajju shyam and found this quote from him: “I never set out to be an artist. My mother painted the walls of our home, as is our tradition, and she would ask me to help her paint the parts she couldn’t reach!”
many thanks for your always inspiring blog! also, was just catching up on previous posts, and am so sorry to hear of your loss. my thoughts go out to you and your fiancee.

04/24/08 10:35am

Valentina wrote

I’ve got the other one of this publisher, “Il leone golosone”, in Italia by Ippocampo edizioni. It’s really a good sensation touch the paper, and the colors and illustrations are really good.
Here the link: http://valesulfilo.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/il-leone-golosone-by-tarabooks-and-lippocampo/

04/24/08 4:07pm

claire wrote

how bizarre! I’ve had this on my amazon wishlist for a while now having found it on another bloggers site, and then today of all days at the london print fair one of the studios had copies for sale! it’s meant to be! (mine). the illustrations are fantastic and I love the stories too.

04/24/08 8:21pm

Janet wrote

Beautiful! This looks great.

04/25/08 2:56am

Esti wrote

Thanks for doing this blog. It’s an inspirational source everyday. The book seems worth buying!

04/26/08 12:47pm

sosser wrote

another awe-inspiring find julia! this one was love at first sight, combining two of my favorite things; trees + spookiness. love!

04/27/08 4:04pm

katy wrote

Thanks so much for this post! That book looks so amazing I ordered one for myself…also they don’t charge for shipping! Amazing.

04/29/08 6:40am

Marieke wrote

That looks great. Reminds me of a book I bought in Paris, don’t know if I ever gave you the tip:
http://www.amazon.fr/%C3%A9l%C3%A9phants-noublient-jamais-Christiane-Pieper/dp/2848013095
Also handmade in India

06/4/08 4:29pm

Cherry Coloured» Blog Archive » i love the nightlife wrote

[...] The Night Life of Trees, the handmade book that Julia over at Book By Its Cover was raving about? I picked up my copy from the book store the other day and practically forgot to [...]

06/20/08 6:37am

donna wrote

this book! i found this purely by accident a few months ago on the bottom shelf of the bookshop, hidden away at the back. i was amazed that it wasn’t on display for everyone to see.
it felt like i’d found something very special.
when i took it to the counter to pay, the man said “i’m so glad somebody finally bought it!”

ps.. this is a wonderful blog!

11/17/08 2:46pm

Handmade Books: The Nightlife of Trees » Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog wrote

[...] has to be The Nightlife of Trees. The book is a series of silkscreened illustrations (some nice photos here) of lushly patterned plants and animals accompanied by short mythical poetry and [...]

11/17/08 10:02pm

Handmade Books: The Nightlife of Trees | Sugar Mob wrote

[...] has to be The Nightlife of Trees. The book is a series of silkscreened illustrations (some nice photos here) of lushly patterned plants and animals accompanied by short mythical poetry and [...]

11/18/08 10:00pm

Handmade Books: The Night Life of Trees | Sugar Mob wrote

[...] has to be The Night Life of Trees. The book is a series of silkscreened illustrations (some nice photos here) of lushly patterned plants and animals accompanied by short mythical poetry and [...]

12/2/10 1:28pm

Massage Cushion %0A wrote

having a regular nightlife can make your life a very colorful one, i enjoy having nigh outs “,”

05/31/11 12:59am

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