Books With Secret Paintings

This painting is hidden along the edges of a book’s pages.

Shut the book, and you see a gold edge. Gently fan the pages, and a landscape appears.

Hidden fore-edge painting in Autumn by Robert Mudie (1837). GIF by Colleen Theisen, University of Iowa Special Collections & University Archives.

It’s called hidden fore-edge painting.

The artist paints across the edges of the fanned pages. Close the book, and the picture disappears beneath the gilded edge.

An artwork you reveal by moving the book.

Fore-edge painting: church ruins by a lake — Boston Public Library / CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Some books take it further:

Fan the pages one way: one painting.
Fan them the other way: a completely different painting.

The same book. Two hidden worlds.

One view of a double fore-edge painting: Washington, a house and Franklin — Boston Public Library / CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

This painting is hidden along the edges of a book’s pages.

Shut the book, and you see a gold edge. Gently fan the pages, and a landscape appears.
It’s called hidden fore-edge painting.

The artist paints across the edges of the fanned pages. Close the book, and the picture disappears beneath the gilded edge.

An artwork you reveal by moving the book.
Some books take it further:

Fan the pages one way: one painting.
Fan them the other way: a completely different painting.

The same book. Two hidden worlds.

Books With Secret Paintings

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