Fore-Edge Painting

A painting located most notably on the fore-edge of a book but with different variantions and styles exploring every side.

Introduction

Dave Dwellers, The World Before the Flood, Boston Public Library

During the sixteenth century, the world was gifted with a new art form that completely transformed the appearance of the everyday bookshelf. What once was a drab looking wooden shelf filled with the same color of paper could now be the new centerpiece of one’s home. You may have come across this newfound artform while you were previewing the side of a book or it could have magically appeared as you flipped to the center of your family Bible. You may have even contributed to the vast library of fore-edge paintings when you drew on one your textbooks during primary school—yes, this does count if it was on the edge of the book. This article seeks to delve deeper into the world of fore-edge paintings and explore their origin, history, how they’re made, what they’re used for, the differing variations, and their use in today’s world while taking an in-depth exploration of various books in and their magnificent examples of the fore-edge painting.

The Birth of Fore-Edge Painting

Since the beginning of the bound codex, humans always found a use for the fore-edge of the book. In the earlier centuries, people would often sign their names and/or the titles of the book directly onto the fore-edge. This was done so that people could organize and identify different books when surveying a bookshelf. As Phillips notes, “The earliest of [these] fore-edge paintings date back to around the 10th century, and the earliest signed and fore-edge book dates to 1653, which is a family coat of arms painted on a Bible.” In Venice, Italy, during the 16th century, an artist with a new idea for what could belong on the fore-edge was emerging. It is here that the original/traditional definition of what a fore-edge painting would come to mean was born. (Bromer)

Cesare Vescellio decided that the tradition of writing the title of the book on the fore-edge could be spruced up and “devised a way to enhance the beauty of a book by painting on its edges.” (Bromer) This is where the traditional method of painting directly onto the fore-edge was created. These paintings ranged from landscapes to religious iconography to family crests/seals. These images are still frequently used in modern fore-edge paintings.

After a full century of painting directly onto the fore-edge, a new method was created by Samuel Mearne in England. Mearne, bookbinder to King Charles I, developed a new form of fore-edge painting which utilizes a gilded edged paper that shrouds a beautiful painting hidden on the inner-edges of the book’s pages. This form of the fore-edge painting would soon be known as the vanishing fore-edge painting. While this method was created in the 17th century, it didn’t become popular until the late 18th century “‘by Edwards of Halifax, who was already known for his exquisite bindings, and who by adding a fore-edge painting to an already fine binding, was creating the ultimate luxury item.’” (Phillips) During this time, “artists were employed to paint landscape scenes with country estates on the fore-edges of books, which were then handsomely bound in painted vellum covers or in exotic leather bindings.” (Bromer)

It is true that while examining these pieces of artwork at the Kislak Center located at the University of Pennsylvania, I found that most of these items were bound in intricate leather bindings. The fore-edge paintings often felt more along the line of a message that signified wealth or class and in my observation were often given as gifts to loved ones. As you can see in this example of a smaller Bible in Figure 1 and 2, a gift from a wealthy father to his daughter, the book is bound in beautiful leather with a small, metal clasp that allowed the book to be locked for safe storage and for protection of the fore-edge painting hidden within. The gold marbling on this book was so well done and preserved that Jehnna, a friend and worker at the Kislak Center, was dumbfounded as to why I asked to see this specific book since it didn’t appear to have a fore-edge painting. Shortly after, I fanned the fore-edge of the book carefully and a breathtaking landscape painting of what appears to be a homestead or church emerged from beneath the golden pages. As you can see in Figure 2, there is

How It’s Done

Figure 3: Screenshot of Martin Frost fore-edge painting taken from his personal website.

Originally, fore-edge paintings were painted directly onto the edge of the book, but in later years with the emergence of the vanishing fore-edge painting, artists began using a frame to achieve the vanishing technique, a marbling is then added to the pages after the painting's color has fully dried. The frame—much like in the image located to the right—used for this technique would exert pressure onto the book while the edges were fanned and visible. In doing so, the inner-edges of the book’s sides would be revealed and were stable enough for artists to begin painting on. Martin Frost, one of today’s commercial fore-edge painters describes the method as: “‘the page block is fanned and an image applied [sic] to the stepped surface. If the page edges are themselves gilded or marbled, this results in the image disappearing when the book is relaxed. When re-fanned, the painting magically re-appears.”’ (BRIEF)

Use

As described above, fore-edge paintings were used to “‘write an author’s name or book title onto the fore-edge of a book for identification purposes,”’ (Phillips) but the fore-edge painting later transitioned into pieces of artwork and signifiers of wealth/class. In the beginning of the bound codex, fore-edges served as an important piece to a book since original bindings could not withstand the pressure of storing books vertically. The fore-edge was then utilized to determine different books stored in the same location.

Variations

There are two main archetypes of the fore-edge painting, the traditional and vanishing. These two can be clearly examined in the Bibles: Biblia sacrosancta Veteris ac Noui Testamenti: adiectis ex eruditis scriptoribus scholijs, ita, vbi opus est, locupletibus, vt pro commentarijs sint: multis certè locorum millibus praesertim difficilioribus, lucem afferunt / auctore Isidoro Clario Brixiano ... ex secunda eius recognitione. Deputatorum Concilij Tridentini seruata censura and The Holy Bible: containing the Old Testament and the New, newly translated out of the original tongues, and with the former translations diligently compar'd & revis'd: by His Ma[jesty]'s special com[m]and, appointed to be read in churches. The latter printed in Venice, Italy, in 1564, features a traditional fore-edge painting that is utilized as decor for the Bible. In contrast, the other Bible comes from 1694 London. It features a vanishing fore-edge painting that appears to be an embellishment as well. These two fore-edge paintings serve as perfect examples of the traditional fore-edge painting emerging in Venice, Italy, during the 16th century and the creation of the vanishing fore-edge painting during 17th century England.

Fore-edge paintings can even be further dissected into smaller subcategories:

Single:

A single painting located on the fore-edge of the book. If it’s vanishing, the pages will need to be fanned in order to reveal the painting.

Screenshot of Harry Potter Philosopher’s Stone, Gryffindor RED by Martin Frost.

Double:

Two paintings located on the fore-edge of the book. To access the paintings, the fore-edge will need to be fanned to the right for the first image. To access the second image, the fore-edge will need to be fanned in the opposite direction.

• Screenshot of TWO-WAY DOUBLE of a classic fairytale title from Fore-edge painted Books for sale by Martin Frost.
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Split:

Two paintings are located on the fore-edge. To access them, the book must be opened halfway through. The paintings will reveal themselves on both sides of the book

Screenshot of SPLIT DOUBLE of John Milton and Old father Thames by Martin Frost.

All-Side:

Paintings are located on every edge of the book. To access the paintings, it’s a bit trickier than the previous versions since the edges will need to be fanned and pinched up from the corners in order to reveal.

• Screenshot of Life of Christopher Columbus by Martin Frost
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Fore-Edge Today

“Fore-edge book painting is practiced commercially by only two artists,” Clare Brooksbank and Martin Frost. (Clare) They both currently are based in the United Kingdom. Clare describes her work as: “I have an interest in the human form and with what it means to be a woman. I use classical mythology, literature and films aswell [sic] as my own experiences to analyse views of women in the world. In my work I use the female form to show how subtle changes of shape in the outer expression can tell of shifts in the depths of the psyche. By combining charcoal drawings or paintings in oil with collaged text from film scripts, classical literature or my own writing I create a rich layering of script and image to express life experiences and emotions.” (Dave)

In fact, the fore-edge paintings of today often involve new iconography. One may find erotic images or even pictures from novels or films. This was something highly unusual for fore-edge paintings in previous centuries and is a newfound way of reimagining the classical artform. (Fore-Edge) (Dave)

Conclusion

Fore-edge paintings are a unique quality to any book. From the beginning where paintings signified ownership and/or title to the artform of painting landscapes and ertoic images, the fore-edge has been a home for artistic growth within the bound codex.