A New Chapter for Copperhead Press

Over the past year, we've been thinking carefully about what kind of publisher and binder we want to become. It's easy to get caught up in trying to follow the publishing methods of other presses, but we've been exploring options outside of the box. Can we find a method that works for us, for our collectors, and fills a gap we see in the fine press world? 

We’ve had opportunities to expand, to publish genres that sell well in the market. But at the end of the day, we want to publish the books that we love. We’d rather publish books we believe in and want in our own library than be forced into publishing decisions just to keep the press financially afloat.

The truth is, we don’t want to be caught up in releasing a new title every month or selling hundreds of copies of each edition we make. What we want instead is to publish books you would never consider selling. Editions so carefully chosen and deliberately crafted that they become irreplaceable parts of your collection. To that end, we’re moving toward letterpress exclusively in the coming years, and we’re introducing two distinct imprints that reflect this commitment: Votum Editions and Apertio Editions. Both are built on the same principle: rarity, intention, and the belief that a book should be worth its weight in time.

VOTUM EDITIONS

Votum Editions represents the top tier of Copperhead Press—our most prestigious and ambitious publishing imprint.

The greatest works of literature have largely been absent from the fine press world, not because they’re unworthy, but because producing them as a single edition is an almost impossible undertaking. A fine press “Ulysses” or “War and Peace” bound in a single volume, or even a matched set produced all at once, would require years of uninterrupted production and a price point that puts it beyond reach for most collectors.

Votum Editions exists to solve that problem. We’ve chosen the Latin word Votum for this imprint, which means a solemn vow made. This represents our commitment to these enduring works. A work need not be hundreds of pages to qualify for Votum. What matters is that it deserves room to breathe, space for typography and design to work meaningfully, rather than being crammed into a single binding simply to be completed quickly. Each major work is divided into a sequence of individual letterpress volumes, released one at a time. Each volume is a complete, beautifully realized object in its own right.

Collectors secure their place in the series with their first purchase, and their rights carry through to the final volume. Over time, the complete work takes shape on your shelf, volume by volume.

We regularly receive requests for works like “The Brothers Karamazov,” “Anna Karenina,” “The Magic Mountain,” and “Swann’s Way”—masterworks that collectors desperately want in fine press form but that have seemed impossible to produce as single editions. Votum Editions is our answer to those requests. This approach finally makes those works accessible, one volume at a time, without compromising the design or the craft.

Our inaugural Votum title is James Joyce’s “Dubliners.” Joyce originally separated the stories into four main sections, Childhood, Adolescence, Maturity, and Public Life, and our Votum edition will honor that structural integrity. The artwork for the first two volumes is complete, and both volumes have been designed and laid out in full.

This approach keeps the press moving forward with intention rather than being absorbed by a single monumental project for years on end. By limiting each Votum edition to 26 lettered copies, we’re able to maintain momentum and keep these projects moving steadily toward completion rather than stretching indefinitely into the future. Collectors can expect two to three new Votum volumes per year. It also means that securing rights to a Votum series puts you among only 26 collectors in the world who will ever own that complete set. Beyond private collections, complete sets of Votum editions will be placed in institutions, ensuring these works endure in library collections for generations to come. The greatest works in the literary canon are finally within reach—not all at once, but steadily, deliberately, and built to last.

APERTIO EDITIONS

There are works of literature that deserve to be discovered anew, brought into the light and given the fine press edition they’ve long waited for. That’s the premise of Apertio, from the Latin for a bringing to light. Each Apertio edition is a single volume, limited to 50 numbered copies. Anyone who purchases a copy secures their rights to all future Apertio titles, building a curated collection over time.

Each Apertio title is intentionally designed and given the same care and attention as our Votum editions, works published as single volumes in handmade slipcases, with text block dimensions tailored to each individual work. Each edition may feature newly commissioned art or significant works of visual art that deepen the literature it contains, designed with room to breathe typographically and visually.

The inaugural Apertio edition is Émile Zola’s “The Attack on the Mill,” the first fine press treatment of this beautifully devastating novella. This edition will feature seven giclee reproductions of Francisco de Goya’s “Disasters of War” series, each tipped in by hand (pictured above). Preorders will open this summer. First rights will go to those who purchased the Roman numeral and lettered editions of “Big Two-Hearted River.”

Future Apertio titles will include works by Anton Chekhov, Ernest Hemingway, D.H. Lawrence, Henry James, and William Faulkner, among others. One new title will be released per year, with publishing order yet to be determined.

LASTING ECHOES

We want to assure our collectors that Lasting Echoes, our letterpress chapbook series, will continue alongside Votum and Apertio Editions. Our second set of chapbooks, featuring shorter works from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf, and Marcel Proust, will be available to order and ready to ship later this year. Together, these three imprints offer letterpress collectors three distinct entry points, from the intimate affordability of Lasting Echoes to the curated artistry of Apertio to the monumental ambition of Votum. Each serves a different collector and a different collecting moment, and all three will move forward at their own pace.

The prospectus for “The Attack on the Mill” will be available for order on our website soon. Watch your inbox for the announcement. We’re also preparing a prospectus for the Votum edition of “Dubliners,” coming soon. Pricing and launch details for both Votum and Apertio Editions will be announced as we move forward.

We’re grateful to everyone who has supported Copperhead Press over the past years. Katie and I came to this work without formal training in publishing or binding, but we’ve committed ourselves to mastering these crafts through dedicated practice and continuous refinement. Through multiple editions, we’ve refined our processes and deepened our understanding of what fine press publishing can be. Votum and Apertio Editions represent the next chapter, built on everything we’ve learned and refined through your patience and trust. We’re excited to share what’s ahead. If you believe in what we’re doing, please spread the word. We hope to continue crafting books for your library for years to come.