What are fore-edge Books?

What are fore-edge Books?

The fore-edge is the edge of the text block opposite the spine (if you think of a book as having four edges, they are the spine, top edge, bottom edge and fore-edge — this last being the edge you use to thumb through the pages), and fore-edge paintings are artistic decorations meant to enhance a volume’s beauty.

What is it called when the edges of a book are colored?

The coloured edge-pages are called, unsurprisingly, edge painting or fore-edge painting: that’s actually already come up on a Stack Exchange site: Why do some books have colors on the edges of the pages? Print Ninja corroborate that, and even call the speckled effect you see on some books fore-edge splatter.

What paint is used for fore-edge painting?

watercolors
While the paints used for fore-edge paintings are watercolors, artists needed to use them carefully. If water was first used on the pages the paint would bleed through to the inner pages or remove the gold of the fore-edges.

What is the edge of a book called?

spine
The spine is the vertical edge of the book where all of the pages are connected. Western books generally have the spine on the left hand side of the front cover. Japanese and Arabic books both tend to have the spine on the right.

Why do some books have gold edges?

This is done for obvious aesthetic reasons, but also for surprisingly practical reasons, as the gold finish serves to protect the edges of the book (with the top edge being clearly most vulnerable) from conditions such as moisture or dust.

What is Suminagashi?

Suminagashi is the Japanese art of marbling, dating back to the 12th Century. Translating directly to ‘floating ink’, the marbling process uses a richly pigmented sumi ink floating on water, which is then manipulated into distinctive patterns.

What is paper marbling called?

Suminagashi
Suminagashi, meaning “floating ink,” is a method of marbling, developed in Japan. Suminagashi is an historical form of marbling paper that is still practiced today. As it’s name suggests, Suminagashi was made by dropping ink into water.

Why do some books have jagged edges?

Books are usually printed with the grain perpendicular to the spine, so the pages don’t curl inward, but that results in a very jagged edge when the pages are cut.)”

Why do some books have deckled edges?

Before the 19th century, the deckle edge was unavoidable, a natural artifact of the papermaking process in which sheets of paper were made individually on a deckle. The deckle could not make a perfect seal against the screen at the edges and the paper slurry would seep under, creating a rough edge to the paper.

What is book gilding?

Gilding of cards or books (never saddle-stitched ones) involves the heated application of coloured foil to the sanded edges of a book or single cards. Think of a book, like a Bible, which often has gilded edges. A printer wanted us to gild perfect bound books with black foil.

What is spray edges?

Sprayed edges are a design element on books, usually hardcovers, where the edges of the book block have been sprayed a certain color. Just the edges of the page are colored, so the color doesn’t bleed through more than a few millimeters onto the actual page of the book, and it doesn’t obscure the text.