Xylotheque

A xylotheque is a small library where every “book” is made by the wood of the tree that is documented inside.

In older xylotheques, the wooden volumes were typically made out of the same wood as the specimens inside and sometimes decorated with tree bark and associated lichens and mosses. Each volume housed seeds, flowers, twigs, and leaves from the corresponding tree or bush, along with a written description hidden in a small compartment set into the inner spine.

The following images are from artist Mark Dion’s Xylotheque which highlights the work of Carl Schildbach from 1771 to 1799 to create 530 ‘books’ made from 441 tree and shrub species local to Kassel.