#fore-edge
Rocked, chopped.
ThroughoutPractical Discourses On All the Parts and Offices of the Liturgy of the Church of England: Wherein are Laid Open the Harmony, Excellency, and Usefulness of Its Composure, v. 4:2 by Matthew Hole (1716). Original from the Bavarian State Library. Digitized December 14, 2010.
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Really in love with the fact that the kids are discovering fore-edge paintings, one of my favorite kinds of book arts. Many examples of contemporary (meaning old, as opposed to antique, which means new. I repeat, as ever, that book vocab is weird) paintings can be seen at Digital Commonwealth.
Decorating the fore-edges of books began as a means of labeling books when people still stacked books, edge side out, on shelves. Numbers or letters indicated what a volume contained or where it went. Fore-edges later served as a prominent location to indicate ownership, and wealthy owners commissioned their portrait or their coat of arms. Concealed fore-edge paintings of landscape, estates, and architecture became fashionable at the turn of the 19th century as book artists such as the English brother duo the Edwards of Halifax refined the technique of these popular picturesque paintings.
Fore-edge paintings are often undated and unsigned, making artist identification difficult, and the Edwards of Halifax are among the few artists we can name. Book artist and fore-edge painter Martin Frost has a few YouTube videos explaining how he paints these beautiful decorations, using a technique not unlike that of the 18th century.
This video has circulated in the book history & rare book librarian circles and we are all thrilled, I tell you, just thrilled. We are now patiently awaiting the kids’ discovery of concealedfore-edge paintings.
