Images: Gary Wayne Gilbert. Click images to enlarge.

Of the 210,000 volumes in the Burns Library’s special collections, this 1809 anthology of poems and songs by Scotsman James Thomson (1700–48) is the only one known to feature a disappearing fore-edge painting. The obscure art form, developed in the 17th century by a bookbinder to the British royal family, can be viewed only if the pages are fanned at a certain angle. This 7 ¾ x 4 ¾ x 1 ½-inch wood-and-vellum-bound edition from London publisher Taylor & Hessey also includes a hand-painted portrait of Thomson on the front cover, silk linings, and gilt-edged pages. An unknown artist painted the Roman scene of a bridge over the Tiber, with Castel Sant’Angelo at right and St. Peter’s Basilica (center) in the distance.