The Pruned | Bringing used books back to life

What to do with old, used books that no one wants? For a year now, Hélène Boulé and her little family have found an ingenious solution by transforming these second-hand titles into decorative objects paying homage to literature.

Sylvain Sarrazin
Press

Our recent article on the removal of books from library shelves had a special resonance for Hélène Boulé and her family, who contacted us to tell their story.

At the end of 2020, this Estrie family very involved in local community organizations was looking for a way to get involved in helping fundraisers. The answer ? It was enough to get hold of the page. Because everything was there, before their eyes, in their home lined with second-hand books, from the cellar to the ceiling, some of which seemed to be at the end of their rope. They lost count, but there are between 1000 and 2000.

Passionate about DIY and a great lover of books in front of the Eternal, Hélène Boulé then arms herself with glue and scissors, the time for a few experiments. Cards, stars, paper flowers are starting to grow. Adèle, Thomas and Damien, her three children aged 9 to 13, seeing her busy transforming these old books, offer her a helping hand.

“I have always liked the book as an object, and maybe even the book object more than the content. When you look at certain covers, there is such research in the designs, the materials used, the calligraphy, I find that fascinating. We wanted to find a way to promote them, ”explains M^me Boulé, freelance writer and former philosophy teacher.

Quickly, decorative objects multiply and ideas abound. Including that, totally improvised, to reserve a kiosk at La grande jour des petits entrepreneurs. “Do you really think people will want to buy them?” », The children wondered. With their support, Dominic Fontaine Lasnier, teacher by profession, will be in charge of this mission… crowned with success. It’s official: Les Élagués are born, and its profits will be donated to organizations such as the Richmond Art Center or the Val-Saint-François ÉLÉ committee, promoting reading and writing to local children.

New out of old

Pretty secret boxes in the form of books are thus born, but also objects espousing annual themes, such as Halloween pumpkins carved from Stephen King’s stories, or even literary Christmas trees and decorations. So many creations displayed at the Café du convent and at the Papeterie 2000 in Richmond, in markets in the region, and soon in an online store.

Even if she admits with a laugh that she did not “make a career plan with that”, Hélène Boulé devotes her time and heart to it, skimming the sales of used books of community organizations in the Eastern Townships and Sherbrooke to build up a raw material. For her, a circular logic guides everything: we help community groups by buying their books, then by paying them profits, which will be reinvested, for example, in new books placed in solidarity Christmas baskets. In short, how to generate new with old.

Also, the small workshop makes it a point of honor to use only recovered materials. “Like the Oulipo [acronyme pour Ouvroir de littérature potentielle] which gave itself writing constraints, I impose constraints on myself to only employ used people. If I need to add pearls to an object, I first look for them in social economy organizations ”, underlines M^me Ball.

A sacred object, but a sacred tribute

Cut, fold, glue, pluck the pages of a book: for some, just thinking about it, it is as if they themselves suffered this fate. Themselves in love with books and very aware of the general attachment to their protection, Les Élagués wondered from the start whether they were not committing a sacrilege with this artisanal surgery. “At first I didn’t feel comfortable, I wasn’t sure. I was also a little afraid of scandalizing people, that they would say that we break books, even if it is to make something beautiful out of them. Then I realized that it was a form of homage, ”explains the instigator of the project who, thanks to explanations of the concept, has never noticed a bad reaction.

“You have to understand that we do not destroy the work itself, we only choose titles published in thousands of copies and used books that we would not necessarily put in our own library”, continues -she, reporting that the public seems rather seduced by these reverences made to authors or classical works they like, from Jules Verne to Shakespeare. Morality: the book turns out to be both a sacred object and a sacred object.