Passage I

Mystery Paper Sculptor

Between March and November of 2011, an anonymous donor left intricately crafted paper sculptures at various cultural institutions in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Delighted, each sculpture was left secretly and was later discovered by staff. The delicate sculptures—streetscapes, plants, and animals—were carved exclusively from the pages and bindings of books. The tiny details in the pieces are awe-inspiring.

The first sculpture discovered—at the Scottish Poetry Library—was a tiny tree formed from a book of verse. Library staff dubbed it the “poetree.” The tree sits atop a book. Beneath the tree are the halves of a golden paper egg, each half filled with words clipped from the poem “A Trace of Wings” by Edwin Morgan. At Edinburgh’s Filmhouse Cinema, a three-dimensional sculpted scene shows patrons sitting in a movie theater as horse leaps out of the screen. At the Scottish Storytelling Centre, a dragon crafted from the pages of a mystery novel was found nesting in a window. At the National Museum of Scotland, a paper tail was spotted emerging from the spine of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s bookThe Lost World. Inside, a dinosaur charges through shredded pages of the open book. More creations appeared at more than a few additional places where literature and artifacts are related to books and writing. Therefore, a total of ten sculptures were bestowed on special institutions, whose staff are thrilled by their luck.

The creator of these sculptures are not known because no one has claimed responsibility. So far, that is. The last gift came with a note in which the mystery artist reveals her gender.Whatever: whoever created the art, your intention is clear. Each gift came with a note expressing special gratitude for “libraries, books, words, ideas.” (13)

Ironically, the creator of these exquisite sculptures who destroyed books—cutting them up with refashioning them into elaborate works of art—as “a tiny gesture in support of the special places.” The mystery artist celebrated the magic of those places and, at the same time, made some magic.