Seeking books with holes in the pages

March 10, 2013 9:20 AM

I am interested in looking at books with cut-outs in their pages. Can you recommend some good ones? I am especially excited by the possibility of intricately cut shapes in pages. I know of the Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer, which has words die-cut out on every page. Are there other, even more elaborate, examples of books with holes in the pages?
posted by mortaddams to media & arts (16 answers total)

This one does not involve intricately cut shapes, but it's still pretty neat: The Book With A Hole by Herve Tullet
posted by sucre at 9:25 AM on March 10

People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia has words cut out of it, but not particularly elaborately. I believe it's only the hardcover version that does it, too... the paperback just uses black rectangles.
posted by vytae at 9:35 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]

You can read The Hole Book on-line. It's a single round hole, nothing intricate.

Warning: It was written in 1908 and is filled with racial and cultural stereotypes.
posted by bondcliff at 9:48 AM on March 10

Pat the Zombie
posted by Foci for Analysis at 9:50 AM on March 10

Are you looking specifically for commercially available books? The first thing that came to mind for me was the artwork of Brian Dettmer, who cuts holes in books to make sculptures. Here is a photo I took of a couple of his books when I saw an exhibit of his in Chicago in 2007, and there are lots of other pictures on his website if you click the word "Images" at the top of the page.
posted by jessypie at 9:57 AM on March 10

The Book about Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
posted by agent99 at 10:07 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]

Also Lemons are Not Red
posted by agent99 at 10:10 AM on March 10

Looking at my copy of Kurt Schwitters - Le point sur le i - 1994 Centre George Pompidou.
Only 14 leafs; most of which have photos of collage and different type sizes. One leaf incorporates a cut and another has actual cut outs which are rectangular.
posted by adamvasco at 10:15 AM on March 10

The classic book with holes in the pages for children is, of course, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
posted by amf at 11:32 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

You might be interested in the altered book works of artists like Julia Strand, Alexander Korzer-Robinson, Susan Sironi and Brian Dettmer.
posted by polymath at 12:47 PM on March 10

Albert Angelo
posted by TheRaven at 1:33 PM on March 10

The Circus in the Mist by Bruno Munari comes to mind. Die-cuts and translucent paper. Maybe more of a picture book than you're looking for, though.
posted by xil at 4:36 PM on March 10

Graeme Base, "The Water Hole."
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:52 PM on March 10

Chora L Works: Jacques Derrida and Peter Eisenman

Used to see this all the time in the architecture section of used bookstores - the logic of the cut outs is pretty incomprehensible though, so I wouldn't call it a great example of the form.
posted by ella wren at 6:09 PM on March 10

I wouldn't call it "intricate", but the first volume of the delightful series Julius Corentin Acquefacques, prisonnier des rêves has a page with a hole in place of one of the panels. When read, this incorporates a panel from the "future" into one side of that page, a panel from the "past" from the other.

And if I remember correctly volume 3 has a spiral cut out of one page.
posted by bfields at 7:07 AM on March 11

I really like First the Egg, a kid's book. It has some cut-through on every page to introduce/mislead you about the next thing to come. Not intricate, but to interesting effect, and it's a clever book throughout.
posted by acm at 7:20 AM on March 11