Books & Poetry

Penhallow Press believes in putting beautiful, intriguing, and challenging words into the world. We publish poetry, both contemporary and classic, in limited-edition handmade books, broadsides, and a series of poetry postcards.

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LOVE AND ORANGES are mysterious things with many mysterious things in common. Boston-based poet Jeffrey Croteau explores this uncharted territory with a light heart and a citrus-growers sense of the sacred in Oranges, a limited-edition chapbook due out late this summer/early fall. It will be lovingly digitally printed, bound by hand, and will bear a letterpress cover printed on sumptuous paper. The Paris Review has published Jeff's translations from the French of several of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs Du Mal poems.His translation of the poem "Spleen" is online here. The chapbook retails for $10.

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Our first full-length title, "Fistfuls of the Invisible," by James Rioux, is sold out. The book is 30 pages, with heavy stock covers. Printing the entire run from metal type on our current antique press as planned proved problematic, so we produced the book by a combination of digital, professional offset and hand letterpress on 70-pound premium white paper, published in a first edition of 150 copies. The cover features a photograph of the author's grandfather kneading bread dough in a bakery during the 1930s. Rioux's poems have been published in several journals including Prairie Schooner and The North American Review. "Fistfuls of the Invisible" is a collection of unrhymed sonnets marked by rich tonalities and masterful craft. With one-word titles such as "Blackberries," "Janitor," "Rat," and "Snow," the poems are terse mediations on the elusive truths of human relationship and the intersection of the known and the unknowable in the natural and unnatural worlds in which we live our days. Email us directly to inquire.Jim's book is currently out of stock.

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"To Say Before Going To Sleep," an original translation by Chris Volpe of a sixteen-line poem by German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, is available from the Press in very limited quantities. This simply designed, twelve-page book was printed and sewn by hand in a "signature" edition of 25 signed copies. This exquisite, little-known poem is a kind of modern, urban lullaby for the care-worn and dream-troubled. We printed ten copies bound in cloth ($35 each) fifteen in paper ($15 each).

Click the photo on the left for high-res images.

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Poetry postcards are letterpress printed on textured Archers stock trimmed to U.S. mail regulation size. Slap a stamp and an address on the back and send, and the muses will favor you with their blessings.

Rilke poetry postcard. "Initial," blue letterpress ink on natural-white stock. $5.

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Bookplates can be custom made to order, but we also sell sets that allow you to write in your own name. They've got acid-free self-sticking adhesive strips on the back.

Letterpress bookplate with original design by Anna Birch. Bright, clear letterpress ink, in blue, green or black. Set of eight self-adhesive bookplates. $7.

E-mail us your order if you'd like to purchase books, cards, or bookplates.