targeted monthly cried

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.  Leonardo

Today was clean-up, paint-up, fix-up day around here.  House got cleaned, toes got painted, studio got some attention, food got purchased and I got gas in the car.  I'm set to go.  Actually I spent studio time doing some red embroidery on the black and tan quilt-  it helps.  I'll show it to you next week.  And next week I get to my crit group too so they get a whack at it-  they'll tell me what to do in no uncertain terms!  

I'm keeping it short and focussed today and hope I'll show you something new with these books that fascinate me.  Hey, I could have been in a line for a new iPhone but instead I was trolling the inter webs for this stuff.  So, today bare with me as I am a one-trick pony!

The University of Iowa recently published a series of photographs detailing a four-volume set of scientific books from 1837. They contain secret artworks, known as fore-edge paintings, hidden along the edges of the pages. It’s a whimsical art form that dates back to the 16th century, when Italian artist Cesare Vecellio (cousin of Renaissance painter Titian) started using his books as a canvas in order to beautify them. As the artistry of edge paintings developed, they became more complex and fanciful, the painted scenes visible only when the pages were fanned. In some cases, a different image would appear when fanned back to front and front to back. We went searching for other examples of this beautiful art form, which is being kept alive by a select few today.

'Paradise Lost' from the Boston Public Library

A fore-edge painting is a scene painted on the edges of the pages of a book. There are two basic forms, including paintings on edges that have been fanned and edges that are closed; thus with the first instance a book edge must be fanned to see the painting and in the second the painting is on the closed edge itself and thus should not be fanned. A fanned painting is one that is not visible when the book is closed.

A single fore-edge painting includes a painting on only one side of the book page edges. Generally, gilt or marbling is applied by the bookbinder after the painting has dried, so as to make the painting completely invisible when the book is closed.

A double fore-edge painting has paintings on both sides of the page margin so that one painting is visible when the leaves are fanned one way, and the other is visible when the leaves are fanned the other way.

A triple fore-edge painting has, in addition to paintings on the edges, a third painting applied directly to the edges (in lieu of gilt or marbling). Edge paintings that are continuous scenes wrapped around more than one edge are called panoramic fore-edge painting. These are sometimes called a 'triple edge painting'.
Here is an example of that with a contempoary Ed Ruscha book being painted, gilded and bound:

Finally, there is one last video that I'm sure you will find enlightening on this tiny corner of the art world:

And oh my,  that is all the teaching I had in me for today!  Tomorrow we'll get back to tattoos or taxidermy!