THE TREE HOUSE
a story told in linocuts by John Liddell
![[Winter tree house]](snowhouse.jpg)
We began work on The Tree House during a happy week in November 2000 when John Liddell joined us at our workshop in Oldham, mixing ink, critiquing proofs, and cutting the final block for the front cover. We listened to Billie Holiday, devoured large slices of his daughter's delicious fruitcake, and revelled in his puckish sense of humour and wide-ranging enthusiasms. After John went back home, we finished printing and binding the book, which was published in the spring of 2001. John was a printmaker of boundless energy, a lover of mechanical toys and old cars, and a born storyteller. For years a teacher at the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art, he was also an active member of the Poole Printmakers; his death in December 2005 has left a void in the world of printmaking as well as in the life of those here at Incline Press.
John Liddell's one, two and three colour lino cuts tell an eloquent story of houses (both in trees and out of them) and the families that live in them, depicting the turning of the seasons and the passage of years without using a word of text. You may see the Tree House in winter here.
We have printed two hundred copies on Zerkall mould-made paper. The page size is 6 3/4 x 9 inches, and there are thirty-two prints, including the title page, each one 4 1/2 inches square. John also designed the binding, with its brown cloth spine and printed paper cover.
The colophon is set in Klang, an attractive sloped Roman type designed by Will Carter, founder of the Rampant Lions Press.