Fore-edge Painting

Time Period
16,000 BCE to 1622 CE
1623 to 1763
Topics
Art & Architecture
Curiosities
Domestic Life
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Picture of Fortress Monroe, The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith

Rarely are books prized as objects of art; often the content of the text, or the plates accompanying the text, are regarded with higher intrinsic value than the construction of the book. However, bookbinding is an art form in itself, and elaborate bindings may garner more interest than the actual text. Such is the case with fore-edge paintings, as often they are unique embellishments to otherwise less significant, mass-produced bound books.

Fore-edge paintings, watercolor scenes painted on the unbound edge of a book, were popularized in the seventeenth century by the Edwardses of Halifax, a family of English bookbinders. Some examples of fore-edge paintings are visible when the book is closed, although more elaborate examples are only visible by fanning the leaves, or spreading the pages. The paintings are created by clamping the fanned leaves in place to create a surface on which to paint. Once the scene is painted and has dried, the clamp is removed and the fore-edge is gilded.

Browse a selection of books with fore-edge paintings from the VMHC collections below:

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Pages ruffled apart show a painted landscape
Tennyson's works

Written by Baron Alfred Tennyson. Published by Strahan & Co., London, 1869. (Call No. ND2370 .T35)

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Pages ruffled apart show a painted city and sailing ships on water
The Pictorial Edition of the Works of Shakspere, Vol. 5

Edited by Charles Knight. Published by C. Knight and Co., London. Issued originally in 56 parts, 1838-43. (Call No. ND2370 .S5)

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Pages ruffled farther apart show a painted landscape and building
The Pictorial Edition of the Works of Shakspere, Vol. 2

Edited by Charles Knight. Published by C. Knight and Co., London. Issued originally in 56 parts, 1838-43. (Call No. ND2370 .S5)

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Pages ruffled apart show portraits of William Shakespeaer & Pocahontas
The Pictorial Edition of the Works of Shakspere, Vol. 7

Edited by Charles Knight. Published by C. Knight and Co., London. Issued originally in 56 parts, 1838-43. (Call No. ND2370 .S5)

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Pages pushed together show plain edges
The Pictorial Edition of the Works of Shakspere, Vol. 7 (closed)

Edited by Charles Knight. Published by C. Knight and Co., London. Issued originally in 56 parts, 1838-43. (Call No. ND2370 .S5)

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Pages ruffled apart show a painted landscape
The Pictorial Edition of the Works of Shakspere, Vol. 1

Edited by Charles Knight. Published by C. Knight and Co., London. Issued originally in 56 parts, 1838-43. (Call No. ND2370 .S5)

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Pages ruffled farther apart show a painted landscape and city
The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed

With a memoir by the Rev. Derwent Coleridge. Published by E. Moxon and Co., London, 1869. (Call No. ND2370 .P8)

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A closed book shows a plain spine
The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed (closed)

With a memoir by the Rev. Derwent Coleridge. Published by E. Moxon and Co., London, 1869. (Call No. ND2370 .P8)

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Pages ruffled farther apart show a painted landscape
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne: with Observations on Various Parts of Nature and the Naturalists Calendar

Edited by Gilbert White, with notes by William Jardine. Published by Nathaniel Cooke, London, 1853. (Call No. ND2370 .W4)

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Pages ruffled apart show a painted landscape and house
The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott

With eight illustrations by Edward Henry Corbould. Published by G. Routledge & Co., New York, London, 1857. (Call No. PR5305 1857)

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Pages ruffled apart show a painted landscape
The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott

With eight illustrations by Edward Henry Corbould. Published by G. Routledge & Co., New York, London, 1857. (Call No. PR5305 1857)

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Closed pages show gold embossed patterns
The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott (closed)

With eight illustrations by Edward Henry Corbould. Published by G. Routledge & Co., New York, London, 1857. (Call No. PR5305 1857)