The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and other Fitzgerald treats!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 25, 2022 at 10:12:55 AM

Dear Great Gatsby subscribers:

It is with great pleasure that we reach out to tell you that Thornwillow has embarked on a new Fitzgerald project that we thought you, as lovers of Fitzgerald, might enjoy! This month, we have announced the release of a fine press limited edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 

When Benjamin Button was anthologized inTales of the Jazz Age in 1922, Fitzgerald wrote that, “Inspired by a remark of Mark Twain’s to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end,” he penned this tale of a man born at the age of 70, only to get younger and younger as his life wore on. The story debuted in Collier’s in May 1922 - just weeks after the first edition of Ulysses (our most recent major publication) was released in Paris - and inspired this bit of fan mail for its author:

"Sir – I have read the story Benjamin Button in Colliers and I wish to say that as a short story writer you would make a good lunatic. I have seen many pieces of cheese in my life but of all the pieces of cheese I have ever seen you are the biggest piece. I hate to waste a piece of stationery on you but I will."

A more enthusiastic reader, David Fincher, turned the concept into a blockbuster film in 2008, attracting 13 Oscar nods, including Best Actor for Brad Pitt.

What do you think? Is this tale of a life lived upside down relevant to our own tumultuous times, and worth a read? Or is its author, quite simply, a “piece of cheese”? We leave it up to you, our beloved readers, to decide!

We are presenting The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as part of our ongoing Monthly Dispatch series, which is a monthly subscription of fine printing, in three editions :

•  Classic Edition: Copies bound in letterpress paper wrappers, available to subscribers for $30
•  Patrons' Edition: Volumes featuring handmade paste paper bindings and letterpress printed labels, individually numbered and signed by the publisher, available to subscribers for $100
•  Centaur Patrons' Edition: Hardbound in cloth and decorative paper boards, individually numbered and signed by the publisher, and available only to Centaur Patron subscribers for $300

If The Great Gatsby and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are not enough to satisfy your desire for all things Fitzgerald, we would like to remind you of our past publication, A Fitzgerald Companion by celebrated journalist Steve Garbarino. Garbarino blends travelogue, recipe book, and quote encyclopedia to sketch an anecdotal biography of the literary mascot of the Jazz Age. Available in paper wrapper and a limited number of half-leather letterpress editions, A Fitzgerald Companion perfectly complements any Jazz Age or Fitzgerald collection. 

 
The Fitzgerald fun continues! If you yourself are a writer, or simply need to say thank you to someone in your life, Thornwillow is pleased to offer a set of 10 heavy archival stock flat cards and tissue-lined envelopes engraved with the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, one of the most iconic images from The Great Gatsby, in fine metallic gold ink.

 
We are so excited to share the love of Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age with all of you! The last opportunity to sign up to receive your edition of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as a part of the Thornwillow September Dispatch is August 31st, 2022 at 7 pm EST; if you order through the Dispatch, your copy of Benjamin Button will be discounted at the prices listed above, as a reward for your ongoing support! Another bonus of subscribing to the Dispatch is that you will receive not only Benjamin Button, but also a variety of fine print goodies to brighten your study, from letterpress broadsides to stationery! If you prefer to order a la carte at a later date, you will be able to buy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on our website, while copies remain available, for an increased price. These delightful books will ship once they have been printed and bound to make sure they are of the highest quality that we can achieve. A Fitzgerald Companion and the Eckleburg Eyes flat card set are both in stock and available to purchase on our website at any time.
     To subscribe to Thornwillow's Monthly Dispatch, visit: https://thornwillow.com//thornwillow-dispatch
     To purchase A Fitzgerald Companion, visit: https://thornwillow.com/garbarino-fitzgerald
     To purchase the Eckleburg Eyes stationary set, visit: https://thornwillow.com/eckleburg-eyes
 

Thank you so much for your ongoing support!

We have a parable to sow...
over 4 years ago – Wed, Dec 02, 2020 at 02:10:11 PM

As backers of The Great Gatsby, I wanted to make sure you are aware of our newest campaign, currently live (and thriving!) on Kickstarter.

For the first time ever in a fine press edition, we are proud to present:

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.

Thornwillow is publishing the first ever fine press edition of Octavia E. Butler’s visionary masterpiece, Parable of the Sower. Letterpress printed and hand-bound, the Thornwillow edition is available in a range of versions, from classic paper, cloth, and leather bindings, to an array of unique artists’ books incorporating unconventional materials such as limp vellum, burl wood, wool, Baltic amber, lapis lazuli and gold. Featuring historic U.S. Geological Survey maps, which trace the heroes’ journey across the ravaged California landscape, as well as indices of record-breaking wildfires and events from our own times, the Thornwillow edition ties past, present, and future together to create a book which will honor Butler’s extraordinary legacy and preserve this important story for the (dystopian) future.

We have been delighted by the enthusiastic reception this new project has gotten, and as we enter the final week, wanted to be sure to reach out to you while the project is still live. If you are already one of the many backers who have lent their support—THANK YOU! And if you have not yet had a chance, be sure to check it out before the campaign ends next week.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy holiday season, with highest regards from the Press,

Luke Pontifell

The Virtual Book Club - One Month Free for Thornwillow Subscribers
over 4 years ago – Fri, Oct 09, 2020 at 12:28:53 PM

Greetings from Thornwillow:

As a subscriber to our edition of The Great Gatsby, I thought you might be interested in a new virtual book club that is just being launched by my good friend Joseph Luzzi. Joe is a Professor of Comparative Literature and Faculty Member in Italian Studies at Bard College. He is an inspired lecturer and lover of literature. The first book he will be featuring in The Virtual Book Club is The Great Gatsby. 

Professor Luzzi is a longtime friend of Thornwillow and has kindly offered a free one month pass to the club for all Thornwillow subscribers. If you are interested in signing up, visit The Virtual Book Club at https://josephluzzi.com/virtual-book-club/ and use the coupon code VBC1FREE when you sign up to receive a one month free membership.

The Virtual Book Club is an international community of passionate readers who will meet each month to discuss some of the best books ever written. Every month Professor Luzzi will offer members an online presentation of a new book, which could be a contemporary bestseller, a recent masterpiece, or a long-lost classic. Members also receive a monthly Study Guide that helps them “get inside” the featured book.

The Great Gatsby will be the focus of the first "meeting" which will take place on October 12th, 6pm EST. 

Hoping this special opportunity is of interest and remaining as ever with very best regards from the press

Luke

New from Thornwillow Press — Declaration: Signs of Change
over 4 years ago – Thu, Aug 13, 2020 at 09:34:29 PM

Dear Friend,

As an established collector of the press, we write to make sure you are aware of our current project at Thornwillow. On the eve of a presidential election and in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, we have decided to deploy our resources as a printer and publisher of handmade limited editions to unite our communities in support of civic participation and to call out for change. Thornwillow is proud to present:

Declaration: Signs of Change

Three new letterpress-printed, hand-crafted broadsides to inspire and provoke, to engage our communities, and drive action for change.

From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King Jr., the printed broadside has long been a symbol of resistance and a sign of change. It is a powerful medium for conveying important, even revolutionary, ideas—ideas worth sharing, worth preserving, and worth fighting for.

Anchoring the project is our Redacted Declaration of Independence. Printed letterpress in 3 colors, the Redacted Declaration Broadside beautifully reproduces our most important founding document, both celebrating its noble goals and unflinchingly exposing its inconsistencies and faults. Changing colors and marginal notes reflect centuries of change, from a damning rebuke of slavery (cut from Jefferson’s earlier draft), to the gradually expanding meaning of “All Men”, to the struggles for equal treatment which continue today. Though we still adamantly believe the Declaration to be a roadmap to a worthy destination, we know we have a long way to go to achieve its lofty ideals.

In this journey toward justice, we are led by the immortal words of Frederick Douglass, and our Power Concedes Nothing Broadside is a rallying cry. It was Douglass who said, “If there is no struggle there is no progress.” Therefore, our heritage is the continued struggle for liberty and justice, and our legacy will be the more equal world we leave behind.

Be an Agent for Change — VOTE 2020

In supporting this campaign and backing one of the tiers, you will not only receive finely printed works of art; you will also make it possible for us to create and distribute a new VOTE 2020 Broadside to urge our community members to do their civic duty. Two years ago, we invited members of the Boys & Girls Club to visit the press and print a similar broadside, which we distributed to local students turning 18 in advance of the midterm elections. This year we hope to reach even more young voters, but we need your help to do it.

To this end, we are offering several Thornwillow titles at significantly discounted prices to backers of our “Agent of Change” tiers, including Abraham Lincoln: Defender of Freedom, Frederick Douglass: Portrait of a Free Man, and Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address. Each “Agent of Change” tier includes 50 VOTE 2020 Broadsides to be sent to a community of your choice—be it a school, your city hall, or your favorite grassroots organization (perhaps in a swing state). In recognition of your essential role in spreading the word and engaging our communities, your name will be prominently featured on the Subscribers’ Register accompanying each set of broadsides.

Civic engagement is our right and responsibility—with this campaign, we hope to do our part. Please join us—back the campaign, and be an agent for change.

Best regards from the Press,

Luke Ives Pontifell

Tales for the roaring twenties... the twenty-twenties.
almost 5 years ago – Sun, Apr 26, 2020 at 05:26:22 AM

A Classic Writer for Difficult Times

As a subscriber to Thornwillow's edition of The Great Gatsby, I want to make sure you know about our newest publication. We have been working on it for more than two years and I am pleased to announce that our next project, EDGAR ALLAN POE: TALES, MYSTERIES & CONTRIVANCES is up and running on Kickstarter. Ours is not the twenties of F. Scott Fitzgerald. These stories are for our time.

Few authors have left a legacy as enduring and influential as Poe’s. The first author to make his living as a professional writer, he not only composed some of the most famous and haunting short stories of all time, but single-handedly invented the genre of detective fiction, and was one of the earliest authors to explore the bounds of science fiction. In the span of his short life, he produced a groundbreaking body of work that has defined the genres of horror and mystery for the last two hundred years.

These are dark times...

As Friends of the Press know, we rely on you to make each Thornwillow publication possible. Now, more than ever, is the time to unite around the written word.

We did not choose Poe with this moment in mind, and we launch this campaign knowing that your attention, your worries, and your resources are being pulled in many directions. But though we did not imagine this book as an allegory for what the world is currently experiencing, these visceral writings of Edgar Allan Poe increasingly seem to speak to us and to our world as we are living it today.In our darkest hours, we turn to art to ignite our imagination, to feed us with ideas and inspirations, to distract and entertain us, to bring us together around shared stories and shared experiences.

When you subscribe for a Thornwillow book, you are not only adding a beautiful and important work to your collection; you are supporting the work of dozens of artists, designers, authors, editors, and craftspeople who have dedicated their lives to the preservation of the arts and crafts of the written word. More than that, you are joining a global community of book makers and book readers, from Palo Alto to London, from New Zealand to Hong Kong.

Today, I am asking you to join us. Help us bring this edition to life as we work to preserve and perpetuate the arts and crafts of the written word—the very arts that make us human.

Best wishes, and highest regards from the Press,

Luke