Recent Press Activity

Greetings from Pegana Press!

We've been very busy this fall...

Rita has been binding the pre-order copies for "Dark Dreamlands II" by H.P. Lovecraft.  Slow going as she has to cut the endpapers by hand, the sheets are too large for my cutter.  The binding boards we use are much denser than standard boards and resist board shears so she's also cutting those by hand.  In addition she's working on slipcases for the last 3 sets of Lost Tales 1-3 by Lord Dunsany.

I've been enjoying typesetting the new Zothique Prism story  "Tomb-Spawn" by Clark Ashton Smith.  Such interesting words in this story.  We're eagerly awaiting the artwork from Jim Pitts.

I'll begin recording narration and music for "Annals of the Jinns" by Robert H. Barlow tomorrow. These will be fun to do, very atmospheric.

After I finish the CAS book I'll begin work this winter on Lost Tales Volume 5 by Lord Dunsany, again with many early unpublished stories.

We hope you all have a festive Halloween and we thank you for your interest in our work.

Warmest regards

Mike and Rita Tortorello

Working Into Autumn

Hello from Pegana Press!

Rita has been busy cutting boards, cloth, and endpapers for the new Lovecraft edition; all by hand of course.

I've begun printing a new Clark Ashton Smith story for the "Zothique Prism" series.  More on story choice and illustrator soon.

The first Zothique Prism "The Empire of the Necromancers" illustrated by Robert H. Knox is now down to 4 remaining copies, more information about the chapbook may be found on the CAS page.

For those of you who like Lord Dunsany, the audiobook "The Vengeance of Thor" is now available on CD Baby to audition and download.  We picked some of the most bewitching stories from the Lost Tales series for this dramatic presentation as well as some classic Dunsany stories. I've collaborated with a pro narrator and musician to produce these.

I was able to pick up a couple of spare parts for the Vandercook Press but am still in search of a couple of other key replacement parts.  Thanks to our Patreon supporters for helping!

That's all for now, we hope everyone is finding time to read.

Warmest regards

Mike and Rita

Pegana Press

https://peganapress.com/

Pegana Press Celebrates 10 Years

It was about this time in July 10 years ago that Mike unpacked the restored Vandercook sp15 press which had just shipped from the Midwest to its new home in the Pacific Northwest, and Pegana Press became a part of our lives.

We feel very lucky to have come so far with this endeavor from a part time obsession to a full time business creating the kinds of books inspired from our early days of book collecting.  We want to thank others like us, who have supported our efforts by collecting our letterpress, hand made Pegana Press Books.  Together all of us keep the press alive.

Recent Press Update

Hello friends of Pegana Press from Mike and Rita.

We've been very busy at the press.

I'm nearly finished with the printing of Dark Dreamlands II by H.P. Lovecraft.
The printing will be done in about a month then Rita will begin the binding.
We've received a magnificent illustration for the story The Quest of Iranon
from Michael Hutter which we will share soon.

The special pre-order price for Dark Dreamlands II will end very soon. 

 Pre-orders save you money and help us to pay the artist and buy the cloth and binding boards.

More information about Dark Dreamlands II may be found here at our website.

https://peganapress.com/h-p-lovecraft.

In other news I'm in receipt of more fabulous unpublished Lord Dunsany stories which
 will comprise Lost Tales 5 and 6.
They are tremendous stories and we're very excited
we were able to get them!  We have only a small amount
of the previous Dunsany editions available now and you may find them here.

https://peganapress.com/lord-dunsany

Back to printing, we thank you all for your past support of our efforts!

Dark Dreamlands II Preview

This beautiful illustration by Michael Hutter will appear in our next book of stories by H. P. Lovecraft, Dark Dreamlands II.

Hand set and printed letterpress, and hand bound at Pegana Press.  To view information about this book or to pre-order your copy please go to our website at Pegana Press.

Spring at Pegana Press

Printing Another Book

Mike is in with the press.  He’s printing another page from Dark Dreamlands II.  I just saw him looking through a magnifying glass to evaluate ink on the paper.

Keeping Pegana Press Running

It’s not all type-setting, printing, and binding.  We lead an integrated existence at the press.  Over the years, we’ve created a balance that allows us to spend less on living expenses, which enables us to put money into making books, which in turn generates income to pay the bills.

While Fall/Winter is the season I can devote to binding the books that Mike prints during the Spring/Summer season, this is the time of year I devote to growing/raising food on our small homestead.

I just got back from the post office where I mailed a couple of books off.  Our post office used to be housed in the general store in a very small community in East Olympia.  I really love that drive.  The community is mostly small farms and homesteads.  The general store is still there, but the post office has expanded to a new building.

Since I was close to the farm store, I drove out to pick up straw.  I can get two bales into the back of the Prius.  After a wet and cold winter, I need to change out the straw in my small barn where the hens like to lay their eggs.  A happy, healthy flock is a big part of our home economy, and allows us to use more income on making books and less on feeding ourselves.

On my way back home, I pass (I kid you not) the cider mill, which is a working farm.  They make fresh donuts daily, and who could resist home-made pastries?  It seemed like the perfect way to celebrate the end of the tax filing season, so I pulled in.  I drove home with the tempting aroma of fresh sticky buns made with a cider glaze.

When I got home, Mike was still printing so I share here, a photo of the page he is currently working on.

And that’s a little peek into life here at the press...

If you’re interested in hand made letterpress books and you would like to help support Pegana Press check out our website or take a look at our Patreon page.

Dark Dreamlands II

Mike is hard at work on the next book release.  Volume II of Dark Dreamlands.  Another letterpress edition for fans of Lovecraft.

We are also excited to announce that Michael Hutter will be illustrating this edition as well and we hope to have some of his new work to post on the website soon.

To view Dark Dreamlands I, or to pre-order Dark Dreamlands II, please visit our website.

For Lovecraft fans:  Dark Dreamlands I and II illustrated by Michael Hutter, and The Moon-Bog chapbook edition illustrated by Jim Pitts

An Update for February 2019

 

It’s still early in 2019 and we’ve already released Clark Ashton Smith Poseidonis Cycle II, a deluxe letterpress edition with illustrations by Justine Jones and an introduction by Donald Sidney-Fryer.




In February, we released a letterpress chapbook of H.P. Lovecraft’s story, The Moon-Bog with illustration by Jim Pitts.



And Mike just finished a fine letterpress broadside of Edgar A. Poe’s poem The Conqueror Worm with illustration by Harry Clarke.

Which brings us up to date with the doings at Pegana Press.

You can see these and other works on our website at PeganaPress.