Next time you’re perusing old books in your personal
library, you might want to see if one or more of them
contains an amazing technique called a “fore-edge
painting” – an illustration that is hidden on the edge of
the pages of the book. Reportedly, the technique dates
back to the 1650s. To see the painting, bend together the
pages of the book to where you can just see a small piece
of each page.
The time it must have taken to put into each work is
staggering…
staggering…
Some books even have double fore-edge paintings,
where a different image can be seen by flipping the book
over and fanning the pages in the opposite direction.
These works of art are now being sold for hundreds
(and sometimes thousands) of dollars.
Here’s one of the best examples of the same technique. Amazing!
(Credit for the above images/gifs to Colleen Theisen, University of Iowa)
