I have this thing with leaves and it’s kind of strange. It started two years ago when I was taking a few design classes and getting pretty arts-and-crafty at home. With the array of beautiful trees on the ole miss campus in Oxford, I began picking up more and more fallen leaves to and from class. I’m fascinated with leaves and the intrinsic design qualities they hold. It’s like each one is a little piece of symmetrical artwork. In a large way, they allow the trees different personalities. This leaf collecting became a problem when it ate up all my space. Delicate leaves that I didn’t want to crush were everywhere around my place. Leaves that I wanted to draw or paint on or epoxy. But after a while most of these leaves got crushed. This habit of leaf gathering has died down but not subsided. I’m sure springtime will be a different story.
With that in mind, you’ll understand why I found Allen J. Coombes’ The Book of Leaves so interesting. This “leaf-by-leaf guide to six hundred of the world’s great trees” is a great idea for anyone interested in the principles of design or those who love nature. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the layout, with each page containing an actual size leaf photo and easy-to-follow description of the trees species and history. This book may just have to be a present to myself this year!
-Peyton
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