Issue 40 / January 2012
The Library of Unwritten Books
Originally commissioned by the Pump House Gallery, The Library of Unwritten Books is a collection of possible books - imagined stories, personal histories, books that should be written - made real. Short interviews are recorded with people who have a burning idea for a book they dream of writing, and the transcripts are turned in to little limited edition booklets, over 800 so far.
The idea originally came from Richard Brautigan's novella The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966 in which a librarian presides over a fictional book repository, cataloguing any book deposited in his care.
Book 712, My Secret Marbles, chronicles the ins-and-outs of managing a 400-strong marble collection, by a nine-year-old named 'Marble Mya', while Calex Eden's story (no 149), Jack, the Librarian from Croydon, weaves metafictional mini biography in the space of 45 lines.
The complete catalogue will be housed at The Mass-Observation Archive at The University of Sussex. The Library is currently on tour and can be found in everyday locations such as laundrettes and pubs. Visit www.unwritten.org.uk for more details. Keep an eye out for No 128, Bill Posters Do It Up Ladders...
Natasha Rivett-Carnac
Tuesday, 27 October, 2009
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