art overseas. The evidence does not make a clear historical case, however it is an interesting factoid to note. The majority of extant examples of fore-edge painting date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries on reproductions of books originally published in the early 19th century. Contemporary fore-edge paintings Fore-edge painting as a craft is deemed critically endangered in the contemporary era. The Heritage Crafts Association (HCA) only lists four “craftspeople currently known” as working in this medium. The remaining artists that practice fore-edge painting are amateurs and leisure makers numbering fewer than sixty. According to the HCA, there are currently no formal trainees in the art form. Martin Frost in Worthing, United Kingdom, is currently the only professional full-time fore-edge artist. He has created over 3,500 fore-edge paintings since he started his career in the 1970s. In 2019 he was presented with the MBE in the New Year Honours list by Queen Elizabeth II. According to a profile he did with the BBC, his training was in theater where he painted backdrops for plays until he was introduced to this craft by a friend who happened to be a fore-edge painter. Brianna Sprague is a hidden fore edge painter based in the US. She received her BFA in fine art painting in 2012, specializing in oil painting and watercolor. She began creating hidden fore edge paintings in 2020 and began selling custom commissions in 2021. She has created over 200 paintings at this time. Focusing on modern books and classics, she has gained attention on the social media apps of TikTok, Reddit, and Instagram. Dispelling the mystique of fore-edge paintings Artist Christopher Folwell, an artist based in the United Kingdom, showed how to create fore-edge paintings step by step in an article published in My Modern Met. Collections College of William and Mary's Earl Gregg Swem Library holds a collection of 709 fore-edge paintings in the Ralph H. Wark Collection, the largest collection of fore-edge painted books in America. Loyola-Notre Dame Library, the library shared by Loyola University Maryland and Notre Dame of Maryland University, has a collection of more than 300 fore-edge painted volumes. Boston Public Library has a collection of 258 fore-edge paintings, one of the larger collections in the United States, and many examples are displayed online. Brandeis University holds 22 fore-edge paintings in their special collection library. Estelle Doheny Collection housed in the Edward