What's New at Pegana Press?

We've been keeping busy at Pegana Press.  Mike has been hard at work setting and printing the next release,  and we will talk about that in another post.  It is nearing completion.

We put in an order for letterpress type about 6 weeks ago to replace our type which is showing signs of wear.  As it turned out, there wasn't enough to fill the order, and so now we're still looking.

Sunday, we spent the day making our most popular letterpress holiday card.  It's always a festive event for us, working together to make these fun cards.

Rita is between book binding jobs and is getting ready for a tabling event at the local gallery here in town.  She will feature her short story zines Hearth & Heart, our letterpress chapbook of her stories--Winter Tales, and our letterpress holiday cards.

If you're in the States and are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday, we wish you a very joyful holiday celebration this week end.  And we wish to say how thankful we are for your support of Pegana Press.

'Tis The Season

News from the press is that Mike is going through our inventory of card stock.  Every year around this time, we put on festive holiday music and spend the afternoon printing letterpress holiday cards.  We really should do it in July I suppose, but somehow we're never in the mood to do it during the summer months and Mike is usually trying to beat a self imposed deadline to finish a current book for an Autumn release.

Happy Holidays letterpress card
Pegana Press

So now it's that time of year again.  Our most popular card is Happy Holidays, and we have printed two editions of this card and are getting ready to print another batch.

Mike's favorite part of making the holiday cards is designing and typesetting a unique letterpress card, which becomes an expression of art.

Of the seven card designs we've offered over the years, 3 of them were created by setting each letter and ornament with the spacing to create an image suggestive of a tree or ornament and 3 of them were created with borders.

Merry Christmas Tree letterpress card from Pegana Press

It's the only time we work together in with the press because Mike hands me the card fresh off the press while the ink is still wet, and I apply a little sparkle.

After the cards dry, they are scored and folded and ready to be sent out.

This week we will be making another batch of holiday cards.  I'll be the one covered  in glitter.

We invite you to view our Holiday Card Collection on our website.

The Ties That Bind

I was thinking of all those who become a part of our books as we make them.  There are the author's estates who are supported by royalties to keep the legacies alive for us.  There are the 500 year old german and french paper mills for the pages.  The natives in Nepal harvesting renewable plants for the beautiful endpapers.  The 1920's formulation of ink from a small company in Illinois.  The parts and materials for the press coming from Fritz singlehandedly maintaining materials for the old equipment.  Cloth and glue from a lady serving the book arts community out of her house.  Copper plates from photoengravers in the town of Owosso.  The tiny local print shop who is kind enough to cut our boards even though it dulls their blades.  An artist dreaming of fairies on a remote isle.

The spirits, passions and dreams of all these people are woven into our books as they take form.  So the next time you open one of our books we invite you to see the patterns of energy that bind it together.  You are part of a much larger community when you dream those dreams written with such grace and printed on the page.

What's New at Pegana Press (December 2013)

To begin, we want to Thank Michael Swanwick for writing some very kind words on Flogging Babel about The Emperor's Crystal & Other Lost Tales volume 2 by Lord Dunsany.  It positively warmed the cockles of our hearts to read it, and we are gratified that he enjoyed it.

Mike is progressing with  The Age of Malygris by Clark Ashton Smith.

And for the Holidays we are offering FREE Priority Shipping on our Holiday Card Collection through the month of December.  These Letter Press Greeting Cards were designed and type set by hand by Mike on Crane's Lettra Paper.  If you're not familiar with this paper, it is made from cotton, and has a very nice feel to it.  (I kept remarking to Mike that it felt like cloth, when I was folding them.) 

He used Reflex Blue and Green inks, and there is a touch of sparkle to them.  They are available in packages of 4 with envelopes.  Old fashioned themes and traditional holiday carols were the inspiration--the photos really don't do them justice especially the cards with text as the design.  The colors and sparkle make them glow when viewed in person.

It is our desire to offer cards that will be a special keepsake for anyone receiving them.  We hope you will enjoy them.

Lastly, we are half way finished with our next Story-cast.  We are having a lot of fun with this.  And I think we'll just continue to post it through drop box, with a link to the public file, since we discovered that our media player was only working intermittently for some people.

It's a real honor for our small press to receive acknowledgement from those of you who have purchased books from us.  We enjoy the conversations we've had via email with new friends who share our passion for a story well told.  We hope to continue for many years to come.

And now to end with a quote from our favorite author, whom inspired the name of Pegana Press.  This is from The Curse Of The Wise Woman.

What a change snow brings to any land that it visits: rather enchantment than change.  It is as though the mountains came down to speak to the fields, almost as though overnight another planet had called for us and taken us over from Earth.  Even the inside of the house was changed, a bright light dwelt in the pictures, making the work of men long dead more vivid and merrier; and on the north side of the house all the rooms seemed as though they were still curtained, and all their blinds were drawn down, for the snow was clinging to the window-panes where the wind had so violently hurled it; and yet even in those dim rooms, through the grey snow, there seemed to shine gleams from the light of a strangely triumphant morning.  
--Lord Dunsany

'Tis The Season

We're having a lot of fun at Pegana Press right now making holiday cards.  Mike designs and prints the cards, and I apply the sparkle.

For the last three days, we've been cranking up the festive tunes while we crank out the festive cards.

We now have five designs to choose from and this year we're offering the cards for sale on our website.

They will be available to purchase
starting on Tuesday, November 19.


As with everything we make here at the press, we have limited quantities of each design, so if you'd like to have a few hand made letter press cards to give to the very special people in your life, then we invite you to take a look at what we have to offer at Pegana Press.

We will leave you with a quote (as we like to do).




May Love & Joy be yours this season.

Happy Holidays

from Pegana Press.