Here’s something a bit different for a Friday morning -  edge printing, also known as fore-edge printing. Edge printing consists of paintings or images applied to the edge of a book or brochure (see image).

Edge printing was widely used in the 18th century and from my sources, the process

“finds its origins in gilding, a process that applied gold or silver to the pages of a book to protect them“.

The process of edge printing however is rarely used today. I do ask though, why not? There are a number of interesting things you can do with print and fore-edge printing is one of them.

With edge printing, you can apply different images to the page edges, and these can either be shown permanently or are only shown when you fan the book in a certain way.

Surely there are uses for this in marketing your brand? Anyone who prints books (or brochures which are thick enough) should consider edge printing to give your publication that extra ‘wow’ factor, and not to mention to possibly increase the value of the book?

There are some amazing effects you can apply to your publications with fore-edge printing, so before you sign off the design of your book or brochure, get involved with edge printing and see how far you can take it!