New For 2020: Pegana Press Podcast

Several years back, we tried doing a Storycast, where we read rare stories.  We tried posting them on our blog and website, but didn’t really have the proper platform to do it.

Over time this idea has been resurrected in two ways.  One is where Mike Tortorello in partnership with Daven Tillinghast creates audio stories with music.  You can find out more about that on Dreamer’s Tales on Patreon .

The second evolution of Storycast comes in the form of a podcast on anchor . fm.  We’ve just put out our first episode.  You can listen on Pegana Press Podcast 

We hope to make this a regular thing and plan to release two episodes a month for now.

We invite you to join us.

Lost Tales Volume 5 Sneak Peek

Lost Tales Vol 5 available for pre-order at Pegana Press

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.

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.

Poseidonis II - A Progress Report from The Bindery

Clark Ashton Smith
Poseidonis Cycle II
The Age of Whelming

Hand set letterpress printed, handbound illustrated edition.
With an introduction from Donald Sidney-Fryer and illustrations by Justine Jones.
Available from Pegana Press 2018

The first one dozen books were bound in on Monday, December 3rd and will rest under weight for 5 weeks.  I had hoped to get them bound and sent out by Christmas, but it just was not to be.  Never the less, work is now proceeding smoothly on the second batch of books.  Yesterday, I sewed the signatures and I spent today folding the endpapers and tipping them in.

I’d like to share a peek behind the scenes...One of the things I discovered when I was first binding Poseidonis Cycle I, was how fragile the end papers were for that book.  Mike had chosen a handmade paper from Nepal made of papyrus with gold streaks in it.  The first book I bound with it turned out fine (beginners luck, I guess), so I proceeded to bind the first batch of books, only to discover that the binder board was showing through where there was gold.  Why it didn’t happen on the first book, I have no idea.  The solution, was to simply line the back of the endpaper that attaches to the binder board with an extra piece of paper which solved the whole problem.

Since we’re using the same endpapers for Poseidonis Cycle II, I spent the afternoon lining them.  It’s an extra step in the process, but well worth it, to achieve the effect of decadent antiquity, we were going for with that paper.

Check back for further updates.

Rita Tortorello
The Bindery at Pegana Press

Poseidonis Update

Clark Ashton Smith: Poseidonis Cycle-The Age of Whelming.  Illustration by Justine Jones.  Pegana Press 2018.

Mike is finished setting and printing Poseidonis Cycle The Age of Whelming.  He is currently setting type for the book titles for the cover.

Justine Jones has provided us with two fantastic illustrations.  Once we get the final versions of the illustrations, they will be sent to be digitally printed in town.

Rita will begin cutting the book boards by hand starting next week, Mike will begin the process of folding and collating the book pages, and the binding process will begin when the illustrations come back from the digital print shop.

To reserve your copy at the special preorder price visit PeganaPress online.

June Showcase: Fritz Leiber

Twelve heartbeats to go.

Death most strongly felt that, if only for artistry’s sake, heroes should be made to make their exits from the stage of life in the highest melodramatic style, with only one in fifty score let to die of old age and in the bed of sleep for the object of irony.

Death has a quota to fill in The Sadness of the Executioner by Fritz Leiber, and only twenty heartbeats in which to claim tenscore human lives.  

Let’s see, thought Death with a vast coolness that yet had a tiny seething in it, one hundred sixty peasants and savages, twenty nomads, ten warriors, two beggars, a whore, a merchant, a priest, an aristocrat, a craftsman, a king, and two heroes.  That would keep his books straight.

We are invited to peek over the shoulder of Death as he tries to creatively engineer the demise of Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser in fulfillment of the heroes quota.  While completely unaware that Death has his eye upon them, will they unwittingly cheat death?

Pegana Press brings you this hugely entertaining story from a master weilder of the sword and sorcery genre in a limited edition handset letterpress chapbook edition titled Nehwon Vision.  This volume contains Fritz Leiber’s The Sadness of the Executioner with frontispiece by Patrick Mallet.

If you love letterpress, and appreciate Sword and Sorcery, we bring you this chapbook to whet your appetite and to give you a taste of the simple elegance that a small press edition can bring to your collection.

We’ve chosen to Showcase this book and are making it available to purchase at the special price of $65.00 through the end of June.

Please visit our website for details.

And one thing more...Pegana Press is on Patreon.  We invite you to view our page and our subscription levels.  If being a patron of a small press appeals to you, we offer great patron rewards to express our gratitude.

Like free shipping on The Sadness of the Executioner for new patrons who sign up before the end of June.  See details on our website.

Illustrations by Justine Jones

Once again we are excited to include the artwork of Justine Jones for our upcoming publication Poseidonis Cycle-The Age of Whelming.  Clark Ashton Smith.

Justine did the frontispiece for our chapbook Zothique Prism II-The Garden of Adompha and she has a real feel for bringing the characters and scenes of Smith’s stories to life through her art.

Currently Justine is involved in two other projects, so we feel lucky that she will be able to make time for this project before our deadline.

You may visit Justine Jones

And we found even more of her work at  Tumblr 

Zothique Prism II - The Garden of Adompha

Pegana Press Zothique Prism II - The Garden of Adompha 2018

Mike has just finished the latest letterpress chapbook from Pegana Press and Rita is sewing them this week.  Look for them to ship next week.  There are still copies available to order on our website 

Zothique Prism I and II chapbooks

Zothique Prism II - The Garden of Adompha

The Garden of Adompha frontispiece by Justine Jones

Mike and Rita of Pegana Press are excited to announce that our latest chapbook is nearing completion and is available for preorder on our website.  Zothique Prism II contains Clark Ashton Smith's story The Garden of Adompha in letterpress and features the compelling artwork of Justine Jones, who has often found inspiration within the stories of Clark Ashton Smith.  You may find some of her work here.  We feel that she has really captured the spirit of the story, and are proud to feature her artwork in our latest offering.

We're now on Patreon

Our Website is PeganaPress.com