The last working fore-edge painter in the world

This is a short video profile of Martin Frost, who might be the last remaining professional fore-edge painter in the world.

Dating back centuries, the delicate art form places intricate scenes on the side of books, cheekily hidden beneath gold gilded pages. The beautiful paintings are only visible to the trained eye, but once you unlock the secret, you’ll find pure magic.

I love the two-way paintings…you fan the book’s pages out one way it depicts one scene and if you fan them out the other, you get another scene.

• art
• books
• Martin Frost
• video