Would you like to give a gift to a favorite book that has given you … maybe everything?

Then talk to Maisie Jackson. She is a master at fore-edge painting, the art of rendering the heart and soul of a book on the too often neglected page edges. Her detailed watercolors make every surface sing.

“To combine my interest in literature—particularly fantasy—and art has been a total joy,” she told us. “I have a real love for old things, and I am passionate about making by hand.” She likes to work with used books “to keep things in circulation and give secondhand items new life.”

Jackson, now twenty-three, is one of only four professional-level fore-edge painters recognized by Britain’s Heritage Crafts Association, which tracks the survival of traditional handicrafts. According to the HCA, fore-edge painting is “critically endangered,” meaning it could die out in our lifetimes. The tradition dates back to the 10th century and reached its first zenith in Britain in 1660, with other waves of popularity in the late 1700s and late 1800s. Another wave is swelling now, thanks to a new generation of bibliophiles who cherish books as physical beings.

That’s no surprise. Unique among art forms, a fore-edge painting invites you to break it—open it, split the pages and the image, let the book fan out … then step into your favorite world of wonders. Jackson’s brush paints you the portal.

Follow Maisie on Instagram @maisie_matilda_art.