Big Two-Hearted River - Standard (Letterpress)

Letterpress  Limited to 100 Copies  Two Giclee Reproduced Illustrations

Estimated to Ship - Spring 2026

A burnt town. A blackened stretch of land. A single figure stepping off the train with a pack and a rod. In Big Two-Hearted River, Ernest Hemingway distills a world of memory, war, solitude, and recovery into the simplest act: a man going fishing.

Set in the hushed forests and winding rivers of northern Michigan, this story unfolds with quiet intensity. Each step Nick Adams takes into the wilderness is both retreat and return—a meditation on what remains after everything has burned.

This edition seeks to echo the clarity and quiet rhythm of Hemingway’s prose—an object of calm, precision, and reverence.

“He sat on the logs, smoking, drying in the sun, the sun warm on his back the river shallow ahead entering the woods, curving into the woods, shallows light glittering, big water-smooth rocks, cedars along the bank and white birches, the logs warm in the sun, smooth to sit on, without bark, gray to the touch; slowly the feeling of disappointment left him.”

This edition marks Copperhead’s first foray into letterpress printing. Produced on an Original Heidelberg Windmill Printing Press and printed on Crane’s Lettra Pearl White 100% cotton paper, it represents a significant advancement in both print and paper quality. We were honored to collaborate with The Mandate Press, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, for this inaugural letterpress publication.

It is also the first Copperhead edition bound in a three-piece Bradel style over a two-section pamphlet stitch. The spine is covered in Buckram Fantasia book cloth, manufactured by one of Europe’s oldest bookcloth makers. The boards are wrapped in handmade Kozo paper, incorporating natural pine fibers—an intentional design element that echoes the forested setting of the story.

Details

•⠀The seventh publication from Copperhead Press.

•⠀Limited to 100 numbered Standard copies. 

•⠀Measuring 5 7/8 inches by 8 7/8 inches and 32 pages.

•⠀Printed letterpress on an Original Heidelberg Windmill Printing Press.

•⠀Crane's Lettra Pearl White Cotton papers.

•  Burgundy Bugra Paper Endsheets

•⠀Two new illustrations printed giclee and tipped in.

•⠀Set in 12 pt Centaur.

•⠀Hand-bound in a three-piece Bradel style with Buckram Fantasia Bookcloth & Pine Tree Kozo Papers.

Slipcase 

•⠀Wrapped in matching Buckram Fantasia Bookcloth. 

•  Made with heavy bookboard for a sturdy and more durable case. 

Rights

Please note that this edition does not include rights to our future letterpress editions, which will be limited to 50 copies. Rights to future letterpress editions will be reserved for collectors who purchase the Roman Numeral and Lettered editions of this release. That said, a minimum of 14 copies of our next letterpress title will be made available to the public at launch.