Yeoman's in the Fork Blog

Why do we like to hold a book in our hands as we read? Is it because we can feel the author as he spent endless hours writing to teach or entertain? Is it because we can absorb so much knowledge, even the wisdom of the ages, as we read? Just the tactile experience, turning the pages is a joy. Did you know that libraries around the world are destroying hundreds of thousands of their books? There is no more room for new ones. Shamefully, in some instances, they are making room for such luxuries as coffee shops where books were once shelved?

Do you have a favorite book, perhaps one that even changed your life? How can you make sure that book is never burned or shredded or just thrown into a dumpster? Maybe you can make your favorite book into a work of art. That might save it from destruction.

I realized recently that when I paint a design on the fore-edge of a book I give it the respect it is due. The hard cover on a good book can protect the contents, but a work of art depicting some aspect of the content gives back some of the love it deserves. My painting says, “Hey, I want to do something for you in return for the pleasure you have given me.” So a fore-edge painting on a favorite book is done with trust, hoping that the next reader will take the same care of the book that the artist did, maybe just because it is decorated. I like to think it will be cared for because of what’s inside.

When Jeanne Bennett was visiting with me and teaching me how to make a paperback book into a hardbound book, we talked about this. She says the inspiration and hard work of a gifted writer deserves to be preserved. That is why she is writing her book Hidden Treasures: the History and Technique of Fore-edge Painting, hoping that all of you will give your favorite book the gift of a fore-edge painting.