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Picture Page August 2015 The shooting prints of Arthur B. Frost.........
Two other sets of Frost's hunting prints were produced. The first, which included six color lithographs titled "A Day's Shooting', was published by Scribner's in 1903 and limited to something less than 2500 copies. Following Frost's death in 1928, a set of four hand-painted prints was produced and sold individually by Derrydale Press between 1933 and 1934 under the supervision of John Frost, the artist's youngest son. It is believed that 250 of each print were produced, with less than 200 of each colored. As a result of the limited production, these are the most desirable of all the Frost prints, and demand a premium whether colored or not. I'll focus on the "Sporting Pictures" this month, which were my first
exposure to Arthur B. Frost. Some time around 1981, Barnes Gardiner, an
antiques dealer in McIntosh,
.
The prints
were held in a large (19" x 26 1/2") pasteboard portfolio covered in red
imitation leather with red ribbon ties and an English Setter's head (drawn
by Frost) on the front. I have not been able to find a picture in color of
the portfolio, so the black and white picture shown above will have to
suffice. Inside were six gray wrappers (one for each
subscription installment or 'part') each illustrated with a pen and ink
drawing (also by the author) and labeled "Shooting Pictures by A. B.
Frost" with the titles of the two prints each contained.
To avoid the clumsiness of having to sort through all the pages to view the contents, the owners typically framed the prints that most interested them or that reflected the types of hunting that they participated in, and stored the remaining portfolio contents away or discarded them. As a result, it is quite difficult today to assemble all twelve prints, and nearly impossible to find a complete portfolio, with all of it's prints, wrappers, text sheets, and tissue papers. I have been able to find four additional original prints over the years, all showing the effects of poor framing. Because they were relatively inexpensive, little consideration was given to the long-term effects on the prints of the framing materials and environmental factors such as sunlight, air quality, or humidity. Consequently, most framed prints found today will show staining and brittleness caused by the acidity of the matting and backboards used, foxing caused by humidity and carelessness with glass cleaning products, fading caused by exposure to light, and soiling very often caused by tobacco smoke. In addition to 'Prairie Chickens' which is shown above, the prints included the following: Autumn Woodcock Shooting:
. . . . . . . . . . . Autumn Grouse Shooting -
. . . . . . . . . . . Quail - A Dead Stand -
. . . . . . . . . . . Quail - A Covey Rise -
. . . . . . . . . . . Rabbit Shooting -
. . . . . . . . . . . Summer Woodcock -
.
. . . . . . . . . English Snipe Shooting -
. . . . . . . . . . . Bay Snipe Shooting -
. . . . . . . . . . . Rail Shooting -
. . . . . . . . . . . Ducks From a Blind -
. . . . . . . . . . . Ducks From a Battery -
. . . .
. . . . . . . .
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In 1895, Arthur Burdett Frost was a successful and highly popular
illustrator of books and magazines, having illustrated several of his
own books, as well as books by such
authors as Max Adeler, Charles Dickens,
Theodore Roosevelt, and Joel Chandler Harris. That year, he was approached
by F. N. Doubleday, a friend and the business manager for Scribner's
Magazine, and asked to produce an assortment of watercolor paintings that
depicted different forms of upland and shore bird hunting. The result was
twelve paintings that were reproduced as a portfolio of color lithographs
titled "Shooting Pictures" and sold by subscription for perhaps
$20 per set beginning in late 1895. The success of the portfolio,
which was limited to 2500 copies, immediately established Frost as the
premier American sporting artist. In 1972, a set of the 'Shooting Pictures'
portfolio was offered by the Winchester Press, which included the twelve
prints in a smaller size to differentiate them from the 1895 originals; this
edition was limited to 750 copies. 
Florida, showed me the complete 'Shooting
Pictures' portfolio that he had inherited from his Grandfather. I purchased
one of the prints (Prairie Chickens, shown here) from him, and have had an
interest in Frost ever since. 
The
only one of these original wrappers I have been able to find is shown here;
in rather sad condition, it is labeled on the upper left 'PART SIXTH' and on
the upper right with the titles of the two prints it once held. In addition to the two
prints, which were attached at their upper edges to heavy paper backboards,
each wrapper would have contained two tissue papers to protect the prints, and a large text page for each print written by Charles D. Lanier
describing the type of bird shooting depicted. In all, there
are 43 separate pieces including the red 'leather' portfolio.
