A page of The Leaf With One Side, a gamebook. Pick a line at the bottom to go on, or start at the beginning.
With Thanks
The sheet under the plate is handmade paper, and the ink on it is the brown of the cards on the pins.
At the top, in a slanting hand: With thanks.
Then the names, each with a date. Maria Sibylla Merian, 1705: the beetle and the moth. Edward Donovan, 1838 edition: the cicada. Edward Donovan, 1800: the leaf insect. Dru Drury, 1770 to 1782: the dragonfly and the mantis.
James Duncan and William Jardine, 1840: the reeds behind the dragonfly, the leaves behind the mantis. John Curtis, 1823 to 1840: the leaves behind the firefly.
The firefly itself is cut from a wall chart made for an Italian classroom in the nineteenth century. The sheet names no maker. Under the last entry a line is ruled and left empty, and a pencil lies across it. You pick up the pencil. You do not know the name either, and you lay it back across the line. Behind you the man with the brush says, Hold the sheet flat, or it will run.
- Lay the sheet down flat to dry, and close the book.
- Go back to the man with the brush.
- Go out the green door and along the water to the library.
The book · Colophon and credits
Spot a word that sounds off, or a fact that is wrong? Write to studio@releaf.site and we will fix it, and thank you by name if you like.