1822 BOOK ON THE BEAUTY OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE WITH A NICE FOREDGE PAINTING SHOWING CARRIAGES AND BUILDING WITH PEDISTRIANS IN THE FOREGROUND -- FULL MOROCCO BINDING -- BOOKPLATE OF SIR ARTHUR GORDON.


An inquiry into the principles of beauty in Grecian architecture :
with an historical view of the rise and progress of the art in Greece /

George Hamilton Gordon Aberdeen, Earl of

1822
English Book [3], 217, [1] pages ; 20 cm
London : J. Murray, 1822. 

7 3/4 by 4 1/2 inches in an a period binding of full crushed morocco with gilt tooling -- with a lovely foredge painting showing a street scene with a large building with 3 carriages and several pedestrians in the foreground. The painting is unsigned. There is heavy staining to the rear endpages (see photo). On the front pastedown is the bookplate of Sir Arthur Gordon, Scottish politician and colonial administrator. 

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jerusalem Delivered, a Heroic Poem, translated from the Italian of Torquato Tasso, by John Hoole. London 1797; with fore-edge painting: Trajan's Arch, (Ancona), Tasso in Prison, and the Bridge of Sighs

A fore-edge painting is an image painted on the unbound edges of a book visible when the pages of the book are fanned.[1][2] It also can refer to an image that is visible on the closed edge of a book. References also refer to the paintings as disappearing or secret images, and they are often hidden beneath gilded edges.[3]

Historically, fore-edge painting has had three purposes: identification, indication of ownership, or artistry.[4][5] Possibly originating in the 10th century, the earliest known examples feature titles written on the closed edges of a book, symbolic imagery, or heraldic designs. The exact origins are debated among scholars.[6] The technique of the hidden painting gained notable popularity in England during the 17th and 18th centuries.[5] A fore-edge painting does not need to be painted on a book at the time of the book's creation. Unless a fore-edge artist was working with a bookseller or bookbinder, fore-edge paintings are applied sometime after the book has been published making the dating of the works difficult to ascertain unless the work is signed and dated.[7]

Fore-edge painting is practiced today, however, it is still an uncommon art.