I am one of those rather strange artists,

我是那些十分怪異的藝術家之一

who paint pictures that people can't see;

我們畫些別人看不懂的畫作

it's a discreet painting,

這是一幅慎重的畫

it's only there when you know how to unlock it,

只有你知道如何開啟時，它才存在

now you see it, now you don't.

你時而看得見，時而看不見

My name is Martin Frost,

我的名字叫 Martin Frost

I am what's known as a fore-edge painter,

我是所謂的書口畫畫家

so I paint pictures on the edges of books,

我在書本的邊緣作畫

but I do it in such a way, that they become invisible,

但我使用的方法使它隱形

unless you fan the books up in a particular way

除非你們以特定方式把書本搧開

and then you un-fan the book, and it vanishes again;

而當你闔起書，它又再次消失了

they're gone, vanished,

它們不見、消失

because the gold has hidden the image.

因為金把影像藏起來

It is pretty much a British, if not English art form.

這非常大不列顛式，如果不是英格蘭的藝術形式

Vanishing fore-edge paintings date back to about 1660.

消失的書口畫可追溯到大約 1660 年

It really got going back in the 18th century

到了 18 世紀

when it became quite popular.

變得頗受歡迎

I was working in illustration,

我曾以插畫為業

and I met a fellow, who was a fore-edge painter,

然後我遇到一個書口畫家的同事

and he showed me what he was doing and I liked that,

他給我看他在做的事情，而我很喜歡

I thought, "that looks fun, I could do that."

我想：「那看起來很有趣，我也可以做到。」

And that, as I said was over 40 years ago now.

而且，那距離現在已經 40 年了

Most of the work I've done has been on antique books.

我大部分的作品都在古典書上

I'll show you this one:

我來讓你看看這一本：

Now here, we have here a large Shakespeare;

現在這裡有一大本莎士比亞

it's 1860 leather-bound, split double,

它是 1860 皮革精裝版、分成兩半

two different images on one book.

一本書上有兩種不同圖像

This is a book entitled "Desert Isles."

這本書名叫「無人小島」

It was produced in the 1920s.

創作於 1920 年代

This is known as a two-way double,

這是雙邊的兩半

one one way and one the other,

一個在一邊，一個在另一邊

and both of them will be hidden under the gold.

而且這兩個都會被隱藏在金底下

I'm often asked by people, "And how long does this take?"

我常常被人問：「這要畫多久時間？」

"How long is that piece of string?"

「不會有人知道的。」

If you're working on a very small book,

如果你在畫一本很小的書

it will take you a few hours,

那會花你幾小時

generally speaking, for a typical book

一般來說，以一本正常的書

of about that sort of size, a day-and-a-half, two days;

大約這樣的尺寸，一天半、兩天

if you're working on something like a big Bible,

如果你畫的是大本聖經

it's not difficult to use a week.

可能會花上一星期

The price reflects the time that goes into it;

價值反映出投入的時間

the bigger Bibles, the big ones,

比較大本的聖經，大本的

ooh, six, £700, something like that.

喔，600、700英鎊之類的

Ah, yes,

啊對

another Harry Potter, let me just open it up.

另一本哈利波特，讓我打開它

Gone.

不見了

I find these quite satisfying.

我發現這東西很令人滿意

As far as I know, I am the only

據我所知，我是唯一一個

commercial fore-edge painter working,

工作的商業書口畫畫家

and so long as my eyes hang on in there

只要我的眼睛還能承受

and my hands, I'll continue,

以及我的手，我就會繼續下去

but if I'm ever asked to describe myself, I say "I'm a dad,"

但如果我被問到要描述自己，我會說：「我是一個爸爸。」

I'm a grandad and I'm a fore-edge painter,

我是一個爺爺也是一個書口畫畫家

that works for me.

這對我而言行得通