Fore-edge painted books

March 9, 2005 8:13 AM

fore-edge painting. Books that, when fanned, reveal paintings on their edges. Hot, fore-edge action! (QuickTime.)
posted by steef (30 comments total)

Very cool. Thanks for the link...
posted by AlexReynolds at 8:15 AM on March 9, 2005

Wow, I've never even heard of this. Awesome!
posted by buriednexttoyou at 8:20 AM on March 9, 2005

Oooooooooo .... thank you, steef. Very sexy.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:24 AM on March 9, 2005

Extraordinary....thanx steef !
posted by peacay at 8:30 AM on March 9, 2005

I've only seen a handful of these in person and its such a cool and little known art. Excellent stuff indeed!
posted by fenriq at 8:34 AM on March 9, 2005

Wow! Now i want one. Just looking at the pictures appear make me feel like i'm in the MATRIX! (or something) I'm just shocked at the DETAIL in these paintings...
posted by indiebass at 8:37 AM on March 9, 2005

Someone should be able to use this as a plot device in a murder mystery.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:41 AM on March 9, 2005

Fingers . . . itching . . . Wallet . . . lightening . . . Must resist urge to collect rare books . . .
posted by The Bellman at 8:42 AM on March 9, 2005

How utterly fascinating. This is now one of my favorite posts. Thanks, steef.
posted by iconomy at 8:46 AM on March 9, 2005

Unbelievabley Gorgeous. Just goes to show how craftsmen back in the day held their work up to the hightest level of quality. Why isn't there more of that now?
posted by laurenbove at 8:58 AM on March 9, 2005

Not to mention forehead painting...

Seriously...great post, steef.
posted by 327.ca at 9:00 AM on March 9, 2005

Absolutely marvelous. [This is good]. Thanks, steef.
posted by Lynsey at 9:19 AM on March 9, 2005

Great. I can see it now. School kids across the world will start defacing text books and call it art.

(Very nice post. Do more, please.)
posted by IndigoJones at 9:21 AM on March 9, 2005

now this is what i call a best of the web fpp.
posted by 3.2.3 at 10:55 AM on March 9, 2005

maeda@media has this, iirc, so it still happens.
posted by andrew cooke at 10:56 AM on March 9, 2005

Very cool. Thanks, steef!
posted by safetyfork at 11:20 AM on March 9, 2005

Holy crap that is cool.
posted by graventy at 11:32 AM on March 9, 2005

Wow, these are great! I'd never heard of this before. I'm just tagging this entire thread.
posted by carter at 11:36 AM on March 9, 2005

BoingBoing'ed!
posted by buriednexttoyou at 12:13 PM on March 9, 2005

I think the first one that I saw on a modern book was Stefan Sagmeister's Made You Look which also has lots of other wonderful design goodies inside.
posted by hue at 12:27 PM on March 9, 2005

Oh my goodness, I WANT one of these. Or just to see one in person would be good.
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:26 PM on March 9, 2005

That is unbelievable..

[This is good]
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:10 PM on March 9, 2005

The next question - is there a site with tips on bracing the pages at a slant while doing the painting?
posted by kreinsch at 4:06 PM on March 9, 2005

Wow. I had no idea this existed. Thanks.
posted by interrobang at 4:29 PM on March 9, 2005

kreinsch: there is a guy who made what you need. The real trick is mining the gold for the gilt edging.
posted by steef at 4:47 PM on March 9, 2005 [1 favorite]

steef: Excellent! Thanks for the link!
posted by kreinsch at 7:20 PM on March 9, 2005

Those looking for a modern equivalent can check out Chip Kidd's "The Cheese Monkeys," which includes a reversable fore-edge print of lettering by Chris Ware (image).
posted by adamkempa at 9:23 AM on March 10, 2005

Good call, adamkempa. That's exactly what the post first vaguely reminded me of.
posted by of strange foe at 2:11 PM on March 10, 2005

Reading this on BoingBoing yesterday made no sense to me untill I watched the video. Thanks Steef!

Metafiler is still > BoingBoing
posted by Lizc at 3:41 PM on March 10, 2005

It's good to see a photo of my 'Wind in the Willows' fore-edge painting on the web (one of over 3000 painted over the last 30 odd years)
I am touring Boston down to Atlanta in April 2005 with illustrated lectures and workshops if you want to say hello.

Contact me on: [e-mail]
posted by foredgefrost at 6:07 AM on March 15, 2005