Histoire de l'église collégiale de Saint-Paul actuellement cathédrale de Liége 1890

This is the title page from O.-J. Thimister's book, "Histoire de l'église collégiale de Saint-Paul actuellement cathédrale de Liége." The composition is bisected. One side offers the book's front matter, while the other is a blank page. The title page itself is an intricate arrangement of typography and symbolic emblems. Note the circular seals at the top and bottom, which frame the central text. This contrast between text and image creates a visual hierarchy that invites us to decode the symbolic language of the church. The rigid structure, however, hints at the codification of knowledge and the authority of the church. The formal elements here—the lines, the seals, the typography—function as signs within a larger cultural discourse about history, power, and representation. The book form itself, with its ordered pages, acts as a microcosm of the cathedral's structured existence. The title page, therefore, is not merely an introduction but a structured entry into a world governed by form, order, and interpretation.