Fore-edge painting has been around for centuries, but few artists today practice the art any more. For those who do, there are two main types of fore-edge paintings, standard fore-edge paintings and hidden (also called disappearing or vanishing) fore-edge paintings. Standard fore-edge paintings are painted directly onto the edge of the book and are visible when the book is closed. Hidden fore-edge paintings, however, are not visible when the book is closed.

Hidden paintings are created by putting the book into a press, which holds it in place with the pages fanned. An artist then paints on the fanned edge, getting the color onto the sides of the pages rather than just the cut edge. Once the painting is completed, the book is closed and the page edges are gilded (or sometimes marbled) so that the painting is hidden. When the pages are fanned again, the painting reappears.

In addition to books with a single hidden painting, there are also double fore-edge paintings. This means the pages have been fanned one way and painted, then fanned the other way and painted again, then the edges have been gilded. This way, there are two different scenes, visible one at a time when the pages are fanned a certain way. When the book is closed, both paintings disappear.

There are other methods of fore-edge painting with even more scenes on different angles of fanned pages, but most tend to be single or double paintings.

Paintings on the fore-edges of books is typically done using watercolors, which are pigments in solid form that become paint when water is added. The water is used to spread the pigment on the pages and leaves the color there when it dries. This is better for fore-edge paintings than other mediums, such as acrylic or oil-based paints, because it does not leave a thick layer of paint on the page. The pigments soak into the paper and the image does not take up any more space than the pages alone.

Below is a video that shows an artist painting on a book’s fore-edge.

Sources:

Bromer, Anne C. “On the Edge: The Hidden Art of Fore-Edge Book Painting.” Foreedge.bpl.org. Boston Public Library, n.d. Web. 23 July 2015.

Carswell, Beth. “Fore-Edge Paintings: Beauty on the Edge.” Abebooks.com. Abe Books, n.d. Web. 23 July 2015.