Welcome to Greenboathouse Press...

Greenboathouse Press is a small publishing concern producing short run, limited editions, printed letterpress and bound by hand. As in our previous incarnation (Greenboathouse Books), our mandate is to publish work that is compelling both in its content and its form, and our attention to typography, design and fine-printing is an extension of that interest in form.

Each book begins with an idea, sparked by a manuscript, which takes shape as a challenge of production: How might we do this gathering of words justice? With such words, what sort of book might be built? It is this challenge that makes our efforts exciting, often excruciating, and always rewarding.

With primary interests in the history of typography and contemporary Canadian poetry, our projects will also include a range of content from philosophical and literary prose to single broadsheets to short novels.

After 10 years of producing digitally printed chapbooks that brought in multiple national design awards, 2009 marked the birth of Greenboathouse Press, representing our shift from digital to hand-set metal and photopolymer letterpress production (for more info on the equipment, please visit the Gear page).

A visit to Patrick Goossens' collection of handpresses, Antwerp, Belgium. Have a look here for details on my recent typographical expedition...

In addition to the the design and printing of books and broadsheets, 2010 brought the aquisition of equipment which will, eventually, allow us to design, cut, and cast proprietary types in metal for hand-setting. This is an enormous project which will take years to put into motion, but the goal is to follow the tradition of private presses of the early 20th-century such as the Kelmscott and Doves, which set and printed books using custom typefaces. Stay tuned for more details, and check out some of the new equipment on the Typecasting page.

2010: Alphabetum Romanum & Ligh & Char.

Throughout the site you'll also find plenty of background on Greenboathouse Press, details on the benefits of becoming a subscriber, information on letterpress printing, links to other useful letterpress sites, a number of photo galleries, a backlist of Greenboathouse Books titles, our poetry archive, and much more. Please take some time to look around, and if you have any questions or suggestions.

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