It's Not Letterpress

No, it's not letterpress.  But you can help support Pegana Press by purchasing my first zine creation.  Just a bit of fun and whimsy.  

Check out the new zine page on our website.  

From A Conversation With The Moon

Winter Tales/Customer Reviews

Here are some quotes from emails I received about Winter Tales, a fine press limited edition chapbook released by Pegana Press.

On Voice of Fire:

I Love the concept of music being held within the memory of the tree. Thank you so much for the beautiful book! I will treasure it for years to come.

On Where the Snow Folk Live:

I've read and re read "Where The Snow Folk Live."

I feel like I have one of those huge and heavy fairytale books from my childhood. The book with stories that mesmerize. Tales for special occasions only. Reading your story Is like uncovering  a mystical passage and discovering a book that was hidden in order to preserve its secrets. 

And that is what great storytelling does!!!  Bravo

The  characters (in addition to the letters) really add to that story and the look of the page . They Create visual interest for me.

Thanks

On Cup of Cheer:

"Cup of Cheer" is my favorite of the three stories. For me it's like Jack and the Beanstalk and the Snow Queen went on a road trip and met the Star Trek crew. I love the idea of the "mixture of cultural anomalies." 

Winter Tales is available through Pegana Press

Archetypes

Here is our page of type locked up in the bed of the press using wooden furniture and quoins to exert pressure.  We'll see some printing next time.

As I was setting the type for a page of The Golden Key an image was presented that struck me as being one that runs through much of fantasy literature .

...Anon an exquisite shadow group of gambolling children would be followed by the loveliest female form, and that again by the grand stride of a Titanic shape, each disappearing in the surrounding press of shadowy foliage...

This recurring vision of a giant figure striding through various scenes yet being obscured, only revealing small, fragmented glimpses could have come from Cabell, Dunsany, Lovecraft and so many more.  Certainly an image that stretches back to the beginning of Man's imagination.  Sometimes sinister, yet always intriguing.

The Craft of the Art

I've begun printing on the pale green paper for the Golden Key (see above); the papers are complementing each other very well.  We're again using the Hahnemuhle Ingres laid paper in different shades.

I thought I would share some of the steps involved in making a letterpress edition.  The bottom photo is the drawer of Goudy Franciscan type with the composing stick in front.  The lines of type are set a letter at a time upside down. The words get separated by various thicknesses of metal to create the spacing between words until the type is snug within the margins of the stick.  Once you have enough lines it gets transferred onto the bed of the press to be printed.  Each page takes about 5  hours  to set.

I've begun reviewing material for the next book and hope to begin work on an audiobook of the Lost Tales series next week.   We hope everyone is well and finding time to read.  I'm reading Wodehouse to relax during rare breaks from printing.  That's all for now, signing off til next time.

To Protect and Serve

                                                                                     

We've had enough requests for slipcases for the Lord Dunsany Lost Tales Series that I've talked Rita into doing them.  The slipcases are being made with a double woven cotton cloth in soft gray over very dense binding boards for long life and durability  It's a more difficult process than binding a book in some ways but we are now happy to offer them for special order here.

Work is proceeding apace with The Golden Key; and am now printing the third signature which is on a pale green Hahnemuhle paper.  

We plan on beginning work on an audiobook version of the entire Lost Tales series in the coming months. (whenever I need a break from printing and lead type)

We wish you well and hope you are feeding the muse in some way.         

             

Adventures in Fairyland

I printed some of the introductory pieces for The Golden Key (photos above) which is in the rose paper signature of the book.The green paper for the new book will be here tomorrow and I'm looking forward to cutting and printing on it. This puts me into the second third of the book and gaining momentum. I found a great quote for the prelude which I will leave you with.
"I am a part of the part, which at first was the whole."

Finding Dunsany

Back when we were younger and more adventurous we traveled a great deal around the Northwest and whatever city we were going to I researched to see what bookstores they might have so we could visit.  We rolled into Bellingham, just south of the Canadian border and found a bookstore but it contained nothing but modern 1sts and paperbacks.  Disappointed, I told the shopkeeper the kinds of books I was interested in. If you ever asked that question knowing you were in the wrong bookstore and expecting the glazed and bored response you know what I mean.  Instead they mentioned a private bookstore in a Victorian house that we might be interested in.  They called the owners who invited us over.  This was the Old London Bookshop run by Michael and Gingyr Schon.  They welcomed us inside and gave us tea and a wonderful chocolate brownie and we spoke of books for awhile.  Every square inch of the Victorian house was full of books with different rooms for specific genres.  Everything was neat and tidy and organized.  So we went to the sci fi/ fantasy room and I found this Jorkens book and the Leiber.  Rita recalls there were other books we put back that we couldn't afford.  What I remember most was the charm and friendliness of those two sweet people who shared their home with books and cats and welcomed kindred spirits in and made us feel at home.  Michael has since passed but Gingyr still carries on.  When I read the Dunsany it takes me back to that store and its charm.  Time had no meaning there and couldn't touch us.

I'll post this on our Dunsany community page.  We encourage you to join and take an active part in keeping the magic and truth of Dunsany alive by participating.  Dunsany has much to teach us and many who need to learn from him.  Perhaps you can share your experiences of where you bought a Dunsany and if a story or memory surrounds it.