Nepenthe Press

New Nepenthe-Press Title on the way and it looks just amazing
(Not sure how to post pictures here)

This edition will be available in three states with a separate letter-pressed edition of Poe's macabre masterpiece 'The Fall of the House of Usher' This will mark our first collaboration with the renowned Nomad Letterpress

POE is limited to 375 copies.

200 copies (numbered 151-350) will be a Signed and Numbered Limited Hardcover - £45

320pp

Limited Hardcover Edition

Signed and Numbered on a specially designed limitation page by the artist Elijah John and editor Stefan Dziemianowicz

16 full page Illustrations by Elijah John

Offset printed

Sewn binding

Foil blocked titles

Head and tail pieces

Ribbon Marker

+Bookmark

+Optional Remarque by the Illustrator

The first 150 copies (no 1-150) is the Deluxe Slipcased Variant - £90

320pp

Limited Hardcover Edition in a beautifully designed, bespoke slipcase plus

Signed Limited Edition Print
Personalised ex-libris bookplate with your name handwritten in calligraphy
Bookmark

Signed and Numbered, specially designed limitation page by the artist Elijah John and editor Stefan Dziemianowicz

16 full page illustrations by Eli John

Foil Blocked Titles

Head and Tail pieces

Ribbon Marker

​+ Remarque Option

Lettered, Fine Binding Edition of 26 Copies. -£850

This edition is bound in quarter chieftain goat skin prepared by Hewit's and Dubletta cloth covers the boards.
Hand bound by Roger Grech at his West Yorkshire bindery.

Offset printed on 148gsm Mohawk Superfine eggshell paper
Silver stamped titles to the spine
Includes the 34pp letterpress-printed and hand-bound edition of The Fall of the House of Usher with three original woodcuts, printed on 145gsm liber charta paper. (The 26 copies which accompany the lettered edition will have a unique variant binding to the other 74 copies in this edition.)
Both volumes are housed together in handmade case by Roger Grech.

The Fall of the House of Usher - £150

Limited Edition of 100 copies of Poe's masterpiece.

(Only 74 copies will be available to pre-order, 26 copies are included with the lettered edition)

32pp letterpress-printed by Pat Randle of Nomad Letterpress on 145gsm liber-charta paper.

With three letter-press printed linocuts from the original blocks by Elijah John.

Hand-sewn and bound by Roger Grech in custom marbled paper by Rachel Maiden over dubletta cloth.

Is The Fall of the House of Usher only available in one state?

>2 St._Troy: Yes, it's the special fine press item of the offering. Being from Pat and Roger, it's going to be a desirable item.

Thanks.

Usher pre-ordered, love the marbled paper designs.

>5 Shadekeep:
100% a must have fine press item if you love Poe.
You will jump on the numbered Slipcase train too ?

>5 Shadekeep: Same

>6 Ragnaroekk: Not for me. I have enough Poe anthologies or complete fiction editions printed offset.

>6 Ragnaroekk: Pat Randle and Roger Grech, it's unmissable.

I am a Poe collector, but almost exclusively in letterpress, so I'm passing on their other offerings this time.

>8 Shadekeep: +1 Usher looks great, and it'll fit right in with my other private press Poe volumes. (Couldn't afford the Nawakum Maelstrom, but this will help soothe the pain....)

are any owners of the LEC version buying this one? the LEC one is a massive folio with handset type and mouldmade paper and great illustrations. different price point but curious about what others are thinking

Shipping costs from UK to USA are still pretty horrifying.

>10 TomsRiverNJ: The illustrations of the LEC version are what have inhibited me from acquiring it.

>10 TomsRiverNJ: If I did have the LEC, I probably wouldn't have gone for the Nepenthe edition. I've been vacillating over the LEC Usher for years, wishing it wasn't such a large volume, and ultimately made the firm decision not to buy it for that reason. The price point isn't dramatically different (the LEC can be had for $300, often less if you're alert), but folio just isn't how my Poe collection rolls.

>12 ultrarightist: have you seen the LEC in person? I don't think online pictures do the detail and depth of the illustrations justice

>13 kermaier: I usually see fine copies for around 500 bucks. I love folios. the bigger the book the better for me

>14 TomsRiverNJ: No, I have not.

>10 TomsRiverNJ: I just could not get into the LEC illustrations -- some of them I found wonderful, but most just did not do it for me. The illustration below (found online) is just not my thing. More power to those that appreciate it, but not for me.

>16 astropi: Ewwwww. Oh, I agree with you on this. Not my cup of tea, certain.

>16 astropi: yeah to each his own. it is an acquired taste but I think that style is appropriate for a queasy writer like Poe. woodcuts and linocuts work well for him too

>16 astropi: I can see where the artist is channeling Munch, but there are elements that are too reductive for my taste. Munch's style looks deceptively simple but is difficult to execute well. This isn't terrible art, but it doesn't sell me on the book in and of itself either, as some art does.

>19 Shadekeep: Fully agree! Clearly "inspired by" by Munch and some of the illustrations are quite nice such as this --



But at the end of the day, overall it just doesn't do it for me. I would rather have something I consider more apropos and more "sinister" such as Clarke's amazing illustrations --

>20 astropi: Exactly. Poe's baroque style lends itself to intricate art. Not saying you can't do minimalist work for Poe, but it has to be exceedingly good in order to stand alongside his verbal imagery.

Tangent, but if people are going to ape famous artists, I really want someone to pastiche De Chirico. His kind of haunted spaces would be ideal for Kafka, Calvino, or Ballard.

Not that this changes anything if one doesn't at all like the illustrations in the LEC (I can totally understand the criticism, agree on some points, but overall like them), but it's worth mentioning that they are not really Alice Neel illustrating Poe exactly. She had planned to do a set of etchings for the story, but fell gravely ill just as she got started. Everyone, including Neel was determined that the project should go ahead, so paintings were selected from her previous body of work and she approved the choices from her bed. The one posted by >20 astropi: was originally done in 1929, while the LEC edition was released in 1985.

There's a nice tribute to the artist written by Raphael Soyer at the back. So, even though there's actually not a huge quantity of artwork in the book (only 2 paintings and 3 drawings), it feels to me more like an artist's book than anything else. The final drawing is a self portrait by Neel as a skeletal head ("perhaps in anticipation of her own death" as the Monthly Letter mentions).

If the art does appeal though, it's a really beautiful book and very highly recommended. Quarter goatskin, attractive marbling for the covers, and the text is flawlessly printed on a thick mould-made Magnani paper. The reproduction of the paintings and drawings is truly top notch, and the care and attention with which this was done, which is described in the Monthly Letter, is absolutely amazing (one of them required 17 plates and 26 press runs).

Neel was only able to sign some of the copies (perhaps about 400 of the 1500 copies) before she died. Due to this, the pricing can be all over the place - in general the Neel signed copies should be much more expensive, but then you sometimes find those at the low end, while the ones that are only signed by Soyer sometimes appear at the high end.

The one thing I don't like so much is the lack of paragraph indents in the text!

>22 GardenOfForkingPaths: "The one thing I don't like so much is the lack of paragraph indents in the text!"

Ben Shiff strikes again! (I agree with you.)

>22 GardenOfForkingPaths: I wonder if anyone has ever attempted to counterfeit Neel's signature and sell the book as signed by both Soyer and her (for a premium price). That signature is very easy to copy.

>23 abysswalker: True. I remember this was discussed re: The Flounder!

>24 Lukas1990: It's certainly possible. Let's hope not, though! I remember the first copy I tried to buy was about $200, but when the seller was taking photos of the book for me, he noticed that it was one of the copies signed by the artist. He instantly revised the price up to $500. Signatures mean very little to me, so I declined and later bought the cheapest copy available, which did not mention Neel's signature in the description. When it arrived, I was surprised to see it did have her signature after all.

>5 Shadekeep: >8 Shadekeep: “Pat Randle and Roger Grech, it's unmissable.”

Consider me enabled… 😊

>26 Dr.Fiddy: I don't think you'll be disappointed, my friend.

Jumped on the Usher train as well. Excited to see the results later this year!

It does look very appealing.

Thank you to everyone who has bought copies of Poe, and also for your comments.
If you have any questions, suggestions, please do ask.
What titles would you like to see in the future? We intend to do a series of slender volumes with Pat and Roger.
'The Horla' is on the cards

>30 VictoriaSharpe: Thank you! I bought a copy and I'm looking forward to it. Great idea for the series. A few I'd like to see:
- The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Poe
- The Colour out of Space - Lovecraft
- The Willows - Blackwood
- The Mezzotint - M R James
- The Birds - Du Maurier
- The Trains or The Wine-Dark Sea or Niemandswasser - Aickman
- I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream - Ellison
- Window or Instructions or The Pilgrimage of Clifford M - Bob Lehman

>30 VictoriaSharpe: Glad to hear it, and excellent suggestions, >31 Levin40: ! I would add:

- The Mask - Robert W. Chambers
- The Phantom Coach - Amelia B. Edwards
- The Dead Valley - Ralph Adam Cram
- The Southwest Chamber - Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
- The Derelict - William Hope Hodgson
- The Old Nurse's Story - Elizabeth Gaskell
- The Upper Berth - F. Marion Crawford
- The Signal-Man - Charles Dickens
- The Geezenstacks - Fredric Brown
- They Bite - Anthony Boucher
- Men Without Bones - Gerald Kersh

>30 VictoriaSharpe: As you're publishing an Alex Older story, any chance of publishing a nice edition his excellent debut novel, The Animals Praise the Antichrist?

>33 TristanJohn: >31 Levin40: >32 Shadekeep:
Thumbs up.

>30 VictoriaSharpe: I look forward to The Horla.

To the great suggestions already made I would add:

Viy - Nikolai Gogol
Thrawn Janet - Robert Louis Stevenson
'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' - M. R. James

>30 VictoriaSharpe: The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce.
The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson.

>30 VictoriaSharpe:
Wandering Willie's Tale - Walter Scott
The Sin-Eater - Fiona Macleod/William Sharp

(I am aware I've now suggested three works written in Scots dialect!)

>35 SyllicSpell: >36 Glacierman: Very fine choices as well!

I would love a 'Tell-Tale Heart' companion to Usher. A couple other fun ones could be:

Bartleby, the Scrivener - Melville
To Build A Fire - London
The Overcoat - Gogol

>30 VictoriaSharpe: If you want to go for an interesting juncture of "weird x literature" for one of the short stories, I recommend The Affair at 7, Rue de M. It's a horror story (about chewing gum!) from none other than John Steinbeck.

8 copies remaining of the letterpress Usher. This has been a FOMO update. 😉

>42 Ragnaroekk: Charles Dickens 'The Signalman'

Woot, called it! 😉

I plan to back both titles, they are excellent choices.

>42 Ragnaroekk: Incidentally, where did you see this announcement? And is there any word of rights, specifically if previous buyers get first stab at the next letterpress title?

>44 Shadekeep: https://www.nepenthepress.co.uk/post/forthcoming-titles

>45 Dr.Fiddy: Super, thanks!

New announcement:

https://www.nepenthepress.co.uk/post/title-announcement

>47 Dr.Fiddy: They've made some great choices! Good to see an Aickman volume in the list (NYRB did a nice one as well, Compulsory Games). It would be lovely if the Le Fanu volume is In a Glass Darkly, or at least includes Carmilla.

>48 Shadekeep: 'or at least includes Carmilla'

See the latest update from Lyra's ;-)

>49 Levin40: Oo, that should be superb! Could finally be time for me to acquire one of their books, should this one pan out.

50: It will be published in the Lyra's Classics line, which means there will be no standard edition. With 150 numbered copies reserved for rightsholders and the remaining 100 allocated through lottery, Carmilla might not be that easy to get.

>51 supercell: Tch. Well, guess I'll throw my hat in the ring and see if I can land it once it's available.

In the latest news, it was said that the letterpress-printed edition of The Fall of the House of Usher will be printed on Liber Charta 170gsm. That's the same excellent paper that was used for Areté's Frozen Hell 👍

>53 Dr.Fiddy: Oo, very nice! That is a pleasing paper.

>55 Ragnaroekk: Faun is Liber Charta as well, but at 145gsm it's a tiny bit lighter

>31 Levin40: You know we have just announced COLD HAND IN MINE by Aickman, with a new introduction by Jeremy Dyson

>58 VictoriaSharpe: Great news! Though I would sure also like to see one of his stories in your letterpress series.

>59 Levin40: Seconded, a letterpress Aickman would be an instant purchase.

Thank you, That's wonderful to hear. It does seem that Nepenthe is naturally going to lean in towards letterpress and fine binding.
It's early days but it does appear that it is the lower end and standard editions that we are left with, and the requests we have had for letterpress-printed editions are many

>61 VictoriaSharpe: I think you'll find there's plenty of competition in this space when you're dealing with well-known authors who are also out of copyright. Poe always sells, but people are also spoilt for choice there, so you need to offer something outstanding. Letterpress is often one of those demarcations.

Picking up Aickman is a smart move, he's a respected author in the field but also not one overexposed by other publishers. You've got a good chance at a winner there.

>61 VictoriaSharpe: I second what >62 Shadekeep: wrote. I think it is very sound strategic advice.

>57 Ragnaroekk: No. I believe all copies of Unquiet Slumbers are printed offset.

>62 Shadekeep: Thank you this, your advice is much appreciated. Thank you too for your kind words regarding Aickman, we did feel he had been overlooked and deserved a quality production

>63 Ragnaroekk: That is very interesting. I do understand your point. To me it makes sense to upgrade a binding if printed offset but somehow we would never consider having a letterpress-printed edition bound any other way than by hand. I'm also not a fan of digital art in letterpress-printed editions. I love the work of many artists who use various digital mediums but again feel that the illustrations should be produced by hand, woodcuts or linocuts, engravings etc

Got a shipping notification for Unquiet Slumbers, so I'll soon be able to sample their wares at last.

Title Announcement

METROPOLIS by Thea Von Harbou : The 100th Anniversary Edition

We are delighted to announce that we will be publishing a 100th Anniversary Edition of Metropolis by Thea Von Harbou.



Metropolis was published in 1925 by August Scherl in Germany and first published in English in 1927. Harbou and her husband Fritz Lang used the novel as a treatment for the German expressionist masterpiece Metropolis on which they collaborated in 1927.



The visual legacy of the film in popular culture is beyond question. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential movies ever made and had a profound influence on other science fiction masterpieces, notably Ridley Scott's Blade Runner as well as Star Wars. The set design and shot composition can also be seen clearly in films like Batman (Both Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan's versions) Terry Gilliam's Brazil and The Matrix (1999).



Set in 2026, Metropolis is a futuristic city with severe socio-economic divisions, the ruling class live above ground in luxury and the working class lives below ground and operates the machines which run the city. Freder is the son of a powerful city master, Maria is a working class girl who advocates for systematic change, these two fall in love. However Freder's father has different ideas for his city and enlists the help of the Frankensteinian occult scientist 'Rotwang' who will create a beautiful monster all of his own in Maria's image...



''This book is not of today or of the future.

It tells of no place

It serves no cause, party or class.

It has a moral which grows on the pillar of understanding:

The mediator between brain and muscle must be the Heart"

-T. v. H.



The novel itself was considered a remarkable piece of dystopian, expressionist literature and Contemporary reviews compared Harbou's work to that of Karel Capek and the early fantastic romances of H G Wells.



This 100th Anniversary edition of Metropolis will be our first wholly

letterpress-printed novel and will be illustrated in Lino-cuts by

Vladimir Zimakov and Elijah John.

The artists will each portray the juxtaposed elements of city, the world above and the world below, the struggle between love and power, good and evil will translate into a book rich in imagery drawing on stylistic elements from both the novel and film.



Metropolis is scheduled for publication Late 2025, pre-orders will open around October 2025 and will be available in three states.



Another newsletter is to follow shortly with pre-order dates on our next title

Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman

>69 Ragnaroekk: What an interesting title choice! I had never read the original novel, but I hope I get the opportunity to read it in this stellar sounding treatment.

Always happy to see more Zimakov illustration in fine press as well!

An inspired choice! Zimakov's work feels like a perfect match for dystopian science-fiction represented through, I wager, German expressionism.

Funny that the book Metropolis of the german author Thea von Harbour isn't in print any longer in germany. You can only get it in english language 😅

I assume that it has something to do with the copyright. I know one publisher (Dieter von Reeken) who is waiting for next year to publish Metropolis, because then it will be more then 70 years after von Harbou died.

Cold Hand in Mine is up for preorder. This looks like it'll be one of the finest versions of Aickman's work ever produced. The cover and slipcase art look incredibly fitting to the work, to me at least. For those who know Aickman's work you don't need any further introduction. And for those who don't, if you are the slightest bit interested in weird/strange fiction you're in for a real treat.

>74 Levin40: They did a really nice job, judging from the photos. The illustrations appear appropriate as well. Offset printed, but a right bargain because of it. It's about time Aickman got this kind of attention from a publisher.

I am tempted, but I have the Centipede Press Masters of Weird Fiction edition of Aickman, which includes all of the stories in the Nepenthe edition. I'm running out of book shelf space, and need to be judicious in my purchases. If it were printed letterpress, it would be a different story.

Is there a way to see more illustrations for this or is it just the cover art for now?

>77 LT79: I don't think so. Only the cover and slipcase art at the moment. I assume they're still working on the rest.

>78 Levin40: Thank you. I have tatty old paperbacks of Aickman. It would be nice to have a reasonable quality book. It's a shame I can't see an illustration or two in advance. I might just order the Artist's edition and take a chance. It's only £60.

>79 LT79: Yes, I don't think you can go too wrong at that price. If you want the Deluxe/slipcased edition it might not last long, but the Artist's edition will likely be around for a while - it's still available for their Poe. It's hard to know what the market is for Aickman. What I do know is that it should be bigger than it is, and hopefully editions like this will change that.

I have to say I really like what Nepenthe are doing so far. Stylistically, Unquiet Slumbers, Poe and now Aickman are shaping up to be a really nice set. They're nicely priced too. Similar or perhaps slightly better quality than Folio, but signed and quite limited. And they're planning on a shift to do more letterpress works in the future.

>80 Levin40: I don't think Aickman will ever have mass appeal. You need a certain sensibility to appreciate him. When FS do surveys for this kind of writing, I request Aickman. Problem is, they put him in a collection with other writers whereas I wanted a book dedicated to him, so I never purchased it. I'd even buy a letterpress book dedicated to one of his short stories with some illustrations.

I'll give the Nepenthe book a go! Like you said, can't go wrong at that price. Thanks for the advice.

>81 LT79: They shared another illustration in the email which just went out. Really looking forward to this now. I don't consider Aickman an author easy to effectively illustrate but they appear to have nailed it.

>82 Levin40: thanks for the heads up. I did order a copy of artist's edition. It's a nice price point for me at the minute and I'm new to Nepenthe so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the artwork. Maybe I'll regret not going for the slipcased edition but we'll see. Either way I'm pleased to finally receive a decent edition. I'm guessing it's one piece per story which is great.

>79 LT79: for Aickman, there are also the Tartarus Press editions, the hardcovers of which are decently high quality (sewn bindings, acid free paper, full cloth or buckram). Very reasonably priced for those still available from the publisher (I believe the prices still include free worldwide shipping, though I haven't checked recently).

The typesetting is straightforward, and they tend toward unillustrated, but if you're just looking for a handsome hardcover maybe slightly above Everyman's grade, but less "designed" than something like Folio Society, they are a good option.

Also supports an independent publisher of new, quality weird fiction.

Thanks for information. I've just had a look on the Tartarus website. There still seems to be plenty of Aickman books left. I like the idea of having a uniform set of hardbacks. The books have introductions too which is great. Also, some other interesting authors there to explore!

>85 LT79: The Tartartus volumes are nice books, and the consistency is a plus. They are unfortunately out of stock on two of their best under-represented weird authors - F. Marion Crawford and William Fryer Harvey - but the two-volume Walter de la Mare set looks choice and is still in hand.

>86 Shadekeep: Surprisingly, I've never heard of F. Marion Crawford and William Fryer Harvey. Would you recommend any other publications / introductions to these writers with Tartarus being sold out?

The de la Mare set looks appealing? It appears it has a slipcase too.

One of the things I like about Aickman is he feels very English to me. It suits my temperament. I like the fact that many of his stories are set in very mundane situations with an everyman having his assumptions about the world turned upside down. He adds these little comments in brackets that challenge your assumptions in a humurous way. I like this more subdued style. But I'm quite open to any new weird fiction.

I quite like the look of Wakefield Press. They only seem to produce small paperbacks but the are quite well done for what they are.

https://wakefieldpress.com/

Not sure if you'd class these as weird writers but it seems to have a lot of overlooked odd writers. Many I've never heard of.

Scrolling through it has a section called the school of strange, dedicated to Belgian and French weird fantasy.

I recommend this recent article for anyone looking to learn more about Aickman and weird fiction in general.

>89 A.Nobody: Excellent, thank you

>87 LT79: Of the titles they still have in print, besides de la Mare I would recommend the set of L.P. Hartley tales and the Robert Louis Stevenson collection The Suicide Club.

I would dearly love for them (or some private press) to do Ralph Adams Cram's Black Spirits and White, one of the finest weird tale collections in my experience.

EDIT: And thanks for sharing the Wakefield Press! I have a few of their titles but neglected to check out what else they print. Some really intriguing stuff there.

>91 Shadekeep: "I would dearly love for them (or some private press) to do Ralph Adams Cram's Black Spirits and White, one of the finest weird tale collections in my experience."

There is an OOP Tartarus Press edition.

>92 ultrarightist: I thought they had done it but didn't find it in their back catalogue, probably searched wrong. It seemed a natural for them, so I'm glad to get a confirmation that they have done it. Perhaps it will get a reissue.

>91 Shadekeep: Thanks for the these recommendations. I'll definitely check out Black Spirits and White!

Does anyone know if Nepenthe is holding 'Usher' until Poe is finished - or if that will be shipping independently and earlier than Poe?

Anyone having difficulty communicating with Nepenthe Press? I never received the copy I preordered of “Unquiet Slumbers,” and the folks there told me that they were unsuccessful in tracking it and would send me another copy. Many weeks have now passed and NP has not replied to any of my emails requesting an update on the supposed shipment; I have not even received verification that it has actually been sent.

>96 DavidMF: If you used PayPal, now would be the time to file a complaint

>96 DavidMF: Hopefully the quiet at the moment is just down to Victoria being out on maternity leave. She seems to helm their communications most of the time. It does appear that work is still on-going on other titles, as evinced here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDb_842Cjrm/ . So hopefully you'll hear back before too long.

A new blog post is out with some interesting news: The next letterpress edition in their library of Weird Shorts after Usher will be The Music of Erich Zahn illustrated by Vladimir Zimakov.

https://www.nepenthepress.co.uk/post/special-christmas-giveaway

>99 Dr.Fiddy: Nice choice! And I do like Zimakov's artwork very much. Should be a good companion piece to Usher. Also excited for the letterpress 100th anniversary Metropolis!