A fore-edge painting can refer to any decoration on the fore-edge of the leaves of a book, such as was not uncommon in the 15th and early 16th centuries, especially in Italy. The term is most commonly used, however, for an English technique that was quite widely practiced in the second half of the seventeenth century in London and Edinburgh. The collection consists of 54 volumes (44 titles) that were published between 1798 and 1909 in England, the United States, and France.