Born in 1868, John Francis (Frank) Holme grew up in West Virginia, and when a young man worked as a reporter and artist for the Wheeling, West Virginia Register. After two years with the Pittsburgh Press, where possibly his first outstanding illustrations were for the coverage of the Johnstown flood in 1889, Holme moved to Chicago. Here he worked as an illustrator for several newspapers, including the Chicago Post, the Chicago Chronicle and the Daily News.Holme was known as a rapid, tireless newspaper artist, working at lightning speed in the courtroom, at a crime scene or wherever the action was. He became interested in many methods of illustration, experimenting with chalk-plate, copper-plate etching, dry-point, photo-engravings from pen-and-ink drawings, and greased crayon. Between 1895 and 1900, he founded The School of Illustration in Chicago and the Palette and Chisel Club, held three exhibitions at the Art Institute with John T. McCutcheon and William W. Schmedtjen, and wrote twelve books of instruction for a mail-order course in illustration. But Holme is probably best remembered for establishing a small press called the Bandar Log Press.The first book from the Bandar Log Press was printed in Holme's home in Chicago in 1895, and was entitled Just For Fun. When Holme fell victim to tuberculosis, he and the Press moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 1901, where the second Bandar Logbook, Swanson, Able Seaman was printed. The next year, seeking a better climate for his illness, Holme and the Press moved to Arizona, near Phoenix, and here a small series of booklets entitled Strenuous Lad's Library was produced. These tales, written by George Ade, were illustrated by Frank Holme with woodcuts in the style of an earlier vintage. Meanwhile, friends of his, in order to raise funds to help in his recovery, incorporated the Bandar Log Press at $25 a share. The stay in Arizona did not improve Holme's health, so he moved to a cooler Denver, where he died a few months later in July 1904. From the Newberry Library - provided by Fine Art Advisory