To those who say print is dead, Carl Pappenheim has a novel way to prove them wrong.
The London-based artist creates beautiful silhouette images of popular books, using the entire text of the novel, from A Tale Of Two Cities to The Hobbit, text you can actually read without a magnifying glass.
Pappenheim began with just five images in 2010, although he had been developing the idea since 2003. "I carried every bit of work I had into the exhibition at Earl's court, with my bare hands. And they were so incredibly popular."
James and the Giant Peach
The images vary from classic black and white, like the globe-shaped Around The World In 80 days, to the newly designed, bright colours for several Roald Dahl favourites, like James and The Giant Peach.
The colour print shows James arriving at the shores of New York in the giant peach pulled by a flock of seagulls. The black and white print depicts the peach perched on top of the city’s Empire State building.
Pappenheim designs the images to fit with the story, trying to fit the text so certain parts of the novel fit with where the words appear within the design.
“Roald Dahl’s books have been on our customers' wish lists since we launched” said Pappenheim, founder and Managing Director of Spineless Classics.
Pride and Prejudice
“Dahl's enduring stories have delighted millions of readers over more than half a century. He placed great importance on encouraging children to read, something about which I'm also passionate.”
As Kindles come into fashion and books get left on the shelves, book craft is becoming a particularly popular hobby, reclaiming old books to make something new.
It's something that horrifies purists though, particularly this shocking video of Lauren Conrad, star of The Hills, merrily slicing up books to make a pretty ugly box.
Even in the digital age, the printed word certainly seems to still tug on our heartstrings.