The Cornell University Library's Rare and Manuscript Book Collection has some secrets.
In a recent video posted to the Collection's Facebook, viewers can see a pair of gloved hands handling an otherwise nondescript antique book. Its pages look golden, its cover leatherbound.
But once the disembodied hands turn the book so the long edge faces the camera, and tilt it just right, the golden pages turn into a full-color painting, placed right on the edges of the pages.
This technique is visually arresting, and actually fairly common for antique books. It's called fore-edge painting, and it dates back to the 16th century.
Book with fore-edge paintings can come in two varieties: paintings visible when the book is closed and when it is fanned. Closed fore-edge paintings are readily visible no matter which way you hold the book — not unlike how a teacher might label a textbook by running a highlighter over its pages.
The other style, fanned paintings, are much more mysterious. They can appear on just one side of the book, or all three. These are known as triple fore-edge paintings, and if they depict one continuous scene, the practice is called panoramic fore-edge painting.
The book held in the latest video's anonymous hands is a single fore-edge painting, and it's awesome.
