Fore-edge paintings is not something that you often hear about, even in art history. These rare paintings on the pages of books are very different than any other art I have previously studied. This type of book decoration is not something that you can see just be looking at the book; rather, it is hidden, and something the owner of the book could keep to themselves if they wished. As my research begins on the fore-edge painted books, I have come to realize how personal fore-edge paintings can be. The art on these books is not something that one would necessarily display to others in their home.
These books and paintings are quite interesting, making it difficult for me to decide which books to focus my research on. Ultimately, I found that there were many Books of Common Prayer (BCPs) in the collection, so I thought I would focus on those.
Initially, I thought I would compare the different paintings on these books, but there is too much variety within this collection to research that many books. In the end, I decided to focus on only books from the 18th century. From these books, I tried to choose three which demonstrated a variety of paintings. I decided to focus on one from 1745 which has one fore-edge painting of a man surrounded by zodiac signs, owned by Sir Simon Clarke; another from 1737 which has a split fore-edge painting that shows Snitterton Hall and Water-Eaton Manner; and, lastly, one from 1772 with a fore-edge painting showing the coats of arms of eight Oxfordshire families.
I believe all of these BCPs show how fore-edge paintings were a personal touch owners could add to their books. Being religious books, I assume that these BCPs were very personal objects and the fore-edge paintings were a way for them to become even more personalized.
The book that interests me most is the one with the zodiac signs on the paintings. In Christian religions such as Catholicism or Anglicanism believers cannot, strictly speaking, follow their faith while also believing in astrology. While the Anglican/Episcopal church is more liberal than Catholicism, it is still interesting that the owner of the book would want to incorporate astrology as part of this religious book. I am interested to do more research on this particular book to see how accepted this fore-edge painting would be.
-Lillian Randall