The Art of Fore-Edge Painting

One-of-a-kind fore-edge paintings, commissions and workshops from North Carolina artist Mandy Howard.

Stacked books with painted covers depicting a futuristic landscape, an airship, a lake with a large structure and a person walking towards a city skyline.
Close-up of Wicked, a colorful book cover featuring a fairy tale illustration with a woman in pink, Ariana Grande as Glinda, and a woman in black, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, reaching out to each other.

Meet the Artist

A woman with shoulder-length hair sitting at a table, looking at a pinball machine with a serious expression. There is a glass of water on the table in front of her, and a checkered tablecloth underneath.

Mandy Howard has been a professional artist since 2007. She earned her BFA in Painting and Printmaking from VCUarts in Richmond, Virginia, and has spent nearly two decades exploring the possibilities of fine art. Today, she specializes in fore-edge painting, transforming beloved books into one-of-a-kind works of art. Alongside creating her own pieces, Mandy teaches fore-edge painting workshops, sharing this unique art form with others and inspiring them to bring a little magic to the pages of their favorite books.

Available books ready to ship:

SHOP

Practice the art of fore-edge painting!

WORKSHOPS

Have a book you’d like painted?

COMMISSION A BOOK
A hand holding a book, revealing a colorful illustration of a lush green landscape of the Shire, and the other edge featuring the Fellowship of the Ring walking along a mountain.
A woman focused on a fore-edge painting, using a small paint brush working under a bright lamp at a desk with various tools and craft supplies.
A set of three books stacked on a wooden surface, each featuring a different illustrated cover with characters and scenes, with a background of a gray wall with large light green tropical leaf patterns. Frodo, Pippin and Gimli are featured.
A person is placing a book with a blue cover and an illustration of a dragon on a bookshelf filled with various books and card boxes, with a painted green and white background behind the shelf.
A colorful illustrated book edge showing the March characters from Little Women, and a second fore-edge painted book featuring the house that Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women in, with a beautiful landscape with hills and trees.
Stack of hardcover books on a wooden table, with colorful and illustrated fore-edge paintings featuring scenes and characters from Harry Potter.
A woman with long, curly hair wearing a white dress with red floral pattern, sitting at a desk, working on a fore-edge painting. She is surrounded by art supplies and completed painted books.
Stack of three books featuring scenes from the Lord of the Rings on the fore-edge painted books.