This exhibit highlights objects that inspire wonder and contain secrets of their own. Some objects are more than they appear concealed on their shelves.
Moseley, Keith. Viktorianisches Puppenhaus.
This pop-up transforms fully from a book to a whole house! Accompanying the pop-up is a booklet describing Victorian life and the household, including paper figures of the household servants and pieces of furniture. Keith Moseley is the paper architect with Diane Fawcett illustrating the paper figures.
Rawlins, T.J. Lane’s Telescopic View of the Ceremony of Her Majesty Opening the Great Exhibition of All Nations.
A “Peep Show” is a type of tunnel pop-up book. Looking through the designated peep hole, you can see the book from front to back to create a dimensional scene. Traditionally, these books were created to commemorate special events as this tunnel book does! It is a view of the Great Exhibition of 1851. This book comprises seven separate picture plans including the front and back covers. The illustrations are hand-colored lithographs with cut out panels, connected by chintz fabric.
Tournély, Honoré. Praelectiones theologicae…
Do you need an excellent hiding place? How about inside of a book? This book is particularly sneaky with its technique because the pages that are part of the hollowed out portion still have moveable edges concealing the secret place within. Hollowed out books may be a recognized hiding place, in theory, due to their many appearances in the media, such as in James Bond films or the Three Musketeers; however, a book safe remains inconspicuous among other books within a personal library.
Hester, John. A Storehouse of Physicall and Philosophicall Secrets…
“Gentle Reader, I have for thy benefit, undertaken to present unto thee this Tract of Physicall and Philsophicall Secrets…”
Books of secrets are accumulations of technical and medicinal recipes that were most popular between the 16th and 18th centuries. These books may reveal the elements of a previously hidden recipe but not all recipes disclose every important piece of information, e.g. to what temperature the substance should be heated; in what order to combine the recipe elements; or even, how to apply the recipe in the end. Do you rub a medicinal product on the afflicted area or ingest it? Is a book of secrets which reveals a hidden recipe still then a secret?
Shoberl, Fred. The Language of Flowers. Philadelphia, 1835.
“Yes, flowers have their language. Theirs is an oratory that speaks in perfumed silence, and there is tenderness, and passion, and even the light-heartedness of mirth, in the variegated beauty of their vocabulary.”
This book uses intriguing stories and anecdotes to communicate the understood meaning of different flowers and plants. Be careful when gifting a geranium. You may want to reconsider what you are disclosing.
Scot, Reginald. The Discoverie of Witchcraft…
This Elizabethan work by Reginald Scot was highly controversial. Between the 15th and 18th centuries in England, witch hunts scoured the land. Scot not only defended those who were accused of witchcraft, he set out to prove that magic witches were illusions and delusions. A common belief is that King James later found this work to be so heretical, he ordered all copies of this book to be burned. If this story is true, King James’ decree was not followed thoroughly as this text still exists, however scarce, and is still one of the scholarly sources of study on witchcraft today.
Bassett, Jennie M. Autograph Album.
Autograph albums find their origin in Germany during the 16th century and are common up until the 19th century. These were originally known as “Album Amicorum”, “Stammbuch”, or “Liber Amicorum” meaning “Friendship Book.” Some sources mention these books as being a collection of autographs from respected performers or friends and used as a kind of resume for social status. Jennie M. Bassett took a different approach to her Liber Amicorum. Instead of collecting signatures of her social circle, Bassett collected locks of hair woven into various designs and accompanied by decorations, cards, and names.
Falconer, John. Cryptomenysis Patefacta: or, The Art of Secret Information Disclosed without a Key…
“To the Reader. You will find amongst the follower Observations, that by means of Secret Intelligence, not only Armies, but Kingdoms and Crowns have been lost…People of both kingdoms, studied a part of this BLACK Art, as their first degree in the MYSTERY of Rebellion…”
Cryptography, which is not magic or a black art, vacillates between science and art. The goal of hiding a message is secrecy and there are many ways in which to hide a message either through encryption, a cache, or a deception to the eye. Suppose someone wants to hide a work of art, a mark of ownership, or a secret message in a book. This book may hold answers. In fact, pages 96-97 describe how to hide information upon the side of a book. Was this information useful to a fore-edge painter’s craft?
Hubbard, Thomas. Valuable Secrets Concerning Arts and Trades, or, Approved Directions from the Best Artists…
Thomas Hubbard of Norwich, Connecticut, was a printer and proprietor of the local newspaper. His press also helped disseminate one of the popular European “books of secrets” on American soil. In 1795, Hubbard published this text revealing processes for compounding paints, dyes and cements, as well as vinegars and confectionery. The text is based on a British version, which was itself a translation of the earlier French. In the same year the Connecticut edition was published. Pages 129-130 illustrate ways in which to gild the edges of a page. An amateur fore-edge painter may have used a book like this to create gilding on the page edge to hide their image.
Norway, Arthur H. Highways and Byways in Devon and Cornwall.
Fore-Edge Painting by Miss C.B. Currie.
Fore-edge paintings are often considered curiosities, wonders, or hidden paintings, and there are many questions surrounding them. A fore-edge painting is a watercolor image on the unbound edge of the pages of a book. Typically, the pages must be splayed or fanned at an angle to view the painting and are often gilded in Western tradition.
Various book-binding techniques have been applied to the edges of books to create elaborate decorations; early on, these were mainly employed for royal collections. In contrast to historic fore-edge painting which was most often produced for royalty or nobility, modern fore-edge painting is more diverse in terms of its artists and purpose. Some fore-edge painters worked with a bookseller and a binder to create fore-edge paintings for commercial sale. Other painters, known as amateurs, produced fore-edge paintings from their own libraries for their personal ownership. Often, a fore-edge painting is applied after a book has been published, so it is difficult to date the painting. It is also difficult to identify a painter as it is uncommon to find a signed fore-edge painting. However, the painting shown here was created by Miss C.B. Currie. Currie signed and numbered her art in working with the bookseller, Henry Sotheran. It is a sign of Currie’s skill and respect that she was given credit for her work.
Wang, Qi., San Cai Tu Hui. 三才圖會.
This is a three volume set in a four-fold case covered in brocade fabric with double fish closures, each volume boasting a fore-edge landscape painting in Ming hand-roll style. Notably, this Chinese fore-edge painting technique does not include gilded edges like its European counterpart. The three fore-edge paintings may be shown side by side to create a larger picture or individually.
Denton, Sherman Foote. As Nature Shows Them: Moths and Butterflies of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains.
“It is the aim of the present work to represent our native butterflies and moths not as dried and mutilated specimens in a cabinet, with pins stuck through them, nor as dissected fragments for scientific classification, but as one sees them in our woods and fields, fresh and lovely.”
The scales and wings of the insects themselves are transferred to the paper to create these renditions of moths and butterflies. The scales of the wings of the insects are transferred to the paper while the bodies are printed from engravings and afterwards colored by hand.
