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This 1853 copy of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” from The Historic New Orleans Collection’s holdings bares a secret in its pages: a rare, fore-edge painting of a steamboat race between the Natchez and the Eclipse, on a moonlit river.
In a fore-edge painting, the artist paints on the free edge of a book, making the image visible only when the pages are slightly fanned. While the book rests flat, the painting disappears. The technique was popular in England during the 18th and 19th centuries, but American scenes like this are scarce.
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– Eli Haddow, The Historic New Orleans Collection