Two of the most prominent figures of fore-edge paintings are John Beer and Martin Frost. John Beer painted during the late 1800s, and was one of the first fore-edge artists to add his signature and bookplate to his work; which allows us to easily identify what paintings are from him. Beer did fore-edge paintings for leisure only, and actually took books from his collection to add the art to. He would paint images relating to the contents of the books, as well as other things of interest to him. Then, when his book collection was sold years later, all of his paintings were discovered and documented. In all, Beer completed over 200 fore-edge paintings on a wide variety of books. Martin Frost is a much more modern fore-edge artist, as he is still producing them today. Originally trained in theater design, Frost learned of fore-edge paintings later in life, and then decided to make them his full-time career. Since then, he has completed over 3,000 fore-edge paintings. Unlike Beer, Frost is actually commissioned for his work. His jobs range from creating traditional images on older books, to painting in modern styles on more recent ones. You can view many of Frost’s paintings here: http://www.foredgefrost.co.uk/. This website displays Frost’s catalogues and is updated often with his new works. John Beer and Martin Frost have both created amazing pieces of artwork, and are two of the most important artists in fore-edge painting history.