Prior to my enrollment in this museum studies course, I had never heard of fore-edge painted books. Fore-edge painting is the decorative technique of painting the fore edges of books such that the images are revealed only when the pages are fanned. These paintings are like delightful hidden treasures to be discovered, and I am excited to have the opportunity to explore this unique and fascinating art form in my research of the Loyola Notre Dame Library’s Knott collection of fore-edge painted books.
In perusing the Knott collection, I was struck by the sheer variety of fore-edge paintings. Traditional fore-edge paintings are single images visible when the book is fanned in one direction, whereas double fore-edge paintings reveal different images depending on the direction in which you fan the pages. The type that caught my interest, however, is the split fore-edge painting, which includes a distinct image on each half of a book. Often these incorporate bookmarks to indicate where the split occurs, and when the book is opened to that page the images appear as if by magic on either side.
I took note of split fore-edge paintings because they were, to me, an interesting adaptation of the art, and in exploring this style further I observed an interesting trend: they seemed to favor studies of nature rather than the landscape that is more typical of fore-edge painted books. I chose to research these books further to determine if there might be a reason behind this trend, or if it is coincidental that they share such similar themes.
The first book that I chose is catalogued as number 111 in the collection, a bible with an elaborate metal binding decorated with a split fore-edge painting of various plant species. When I first examined this book, I was struck by the elaborate detail with which the plants were rendered, clearly distinguishing them as different species. The distinctiveness of the plants, as well as the omission of a background scene, suggested to me that this painting was intended to be a natural study, and it occurred to me that the detail was such that it may be possible with a little research to identify the species in the painting.
The second book, number 138, is extremely similar to the first. It is also a bible, incredibly thick, with a split fore-edge painting that appears to be a natural study. It, too, depicts images of very distinct plants, but it also incorporates various insect species painted with the same attention to detail. The way in which the plants and insects are lined up in a row on an unadorned background resembles the painting on number 111 so strongly that I am inclined to wonder if they might not have shared an artist.
The connection between these two and the final book that I chose did not immediately strike me. This third book, yet another bible, is number 198 in the Knott collection. Unlike the others, it depicts animals instead of plants, and with painted backgrounds. One side of the book depicts a pair of squirrels in a tree, and the other a bird standing on the ground. It occurred to me, however, that these paintings shared the careful detail of the others, and the focus on species in nature. The question remains of whether these similarities are incidental, and, if not, what might account for the differences in number 198?
In researching these three books, I hope to find some explanations for the questions that they have raised: for instance, did the split fore-edge distinction affect the decision to paint natural subjects? Is there any significance to the fact that these are all bibles? Might there be a connection between the artists of any of these paintings? I look forward to exploring these and other questions in the coming months.
-Rosie Waniak