The Palace Press

Gustave Baumann Studio

A permanent exhibit at the Press is the recreated studio of Gustave Baumann, New Mexico’s great twentieth-century artist-printer. Featured are Baumann’s press, watermarked papers, hand tools, and the pigments he used to make the ink for his color-saturated woodcut scenes of New Mexico and the Southwest.

Working Presses

A visit to the Press of the Palace of the Governors is like walking into any frontier printing office in the nineteenth century. All of the historic presses on exhibit have seen years of service and all stand ready if called on to get out the news. As well as being part of the state’s rich literary legacy, the presses in the collection continue to produce printed items that can be purchased in the shop: limited edition books and portfolios, broadsides, cards and posters.

Washington Hand Press

One of the prizes of our collection is an elaborately decorated Washington Hand Press built in 1876 by the Cincinnati Type Foundry. Found in a barn in Hatch, New Mexico, this press was brought to the museum in 1970 where it was restored to working condition. Used in the Black Range, a mining area in the middle western portion of the state, it may have been in use printing a newspaper called the Hatch Reporter as late as 1927. The patriotic icons that were cast into the press’s framework are in honor of the 1876 Centennial of the United States. Most recently, the press was used to print our popular facsimile of the Declaration of Independence.

One legend tells of another Washington press that was thrown into the Rio Grande near Mesilla to prevent its use during the American Civil War. It is not recorded which side perpetrated the vandalism, or whether or not the press was retrieved.

Platen Presses

Shortly after their development in the first half of the 19th century, jobbing platens became the workhorse of letterpress shops. A table model variety was used by parlor printers and the larger standing presses were used by nearly every commercial printing firm. Several models can be seen at the Press of the Palace of Governors—including the 1899 press by Chandler & Price known as the Estancia Press, an 1890 Kelsey Star, and table model platens manufactured by both of these companies.

Estancia Press

The modern incarnation of the Palace Press began in 1969 when the contents of the Estancia News-Herald printing office were donated to the museum. The contents of the Estancia News-Herald print shop when it closed in the 1950s are showcased as a permanent exhibit. Posted on the walls are numerous handbills documenting daily life of the Estancia Valley from the 1930s to the early 1950s, promoting everything from dances and basketball games to World War II blackout drills.

Included is the Estancia Press, a 10 x 15 Chandler & Price (C&P) platen press built in 1899. It was used in 1908 to print Songs of the Cowboys, the world’s first publication of cowboy ballads. Once powered by steam, the press—used here to print books and broadsides—is treadle operated and hand fed as it was originally designed to function.

Spud Johnson's Press

A product of the Kelsey Company in Meriden, Connecticut, our Kelsey Star was used in Taos during the 1920s and 1930s. It was one of the largest models built by William Kelsey, who became famous for producing presses for young amateurs. In Taos, it was used by Walter Willard "Spud" Johnson, who chronicled the comings and goings of the Taos community of writers and artists in his tiny humorous newspaper called The Horse Fly. Johnson also produced The Laughing Horse, a literary magazine that featured such well-known writers as Carl Sandburg, D.H. Lawrence, and Upton Sinclair.

Plates and Type

Type

The Press of the Palace type collection includes over four hundred fonts, representing sixty different type families commonly used in early 20th century printed material. The metal foundry types are stored in California Job Cases housed in banks of cabinets.

Engravings

The Press of the Palace printing plate collection is made up of more than 5,000 items. This includes relief printing plates in wood and linoleum created by New Mexico artists as well as copper and zinc plates that have been produced by a photo mechanical process. The collection documents New Mexico history through images of regional art and architecture, folklife, commercial developments, and the environment.

Library

Also housed at the Press of the Palace is a collection of books, periodicals, and pamphlets focusing on the arts of the book. Printing history, calligraphy, papermaking, illustration and typography are just a few of the topics covered by the volumes. Current periodicals tell of book exhibits throughout the country, design, competitions, equipment for sale and workshops offered in various hand techniques used in the making of books. The research library is open to the public during regular Museum hours; however, an appointment for using this facility is advised.

Since 1976, The Press of the Palace of the Governors has been printing on historic equipment and using historic paper and binding techniques.

Specialty Printed Items

At the Palace Press we always have some things that are old, some things that are new, and some things that are blue (and red and green and yellow and orange and purple and…..). Regarding the latter, we have a constant and ever-changing inventory of blank journals with colorful marbled paper covers. One of our most popular offerings, the journals are made on-site in our workshop. They’re affordable and handy, and they make great gifts for all ages.

In addition to our limited-edition books, we also produce and sell poetry broadsides, chapbooks, commemorative posters, notecards and other ephemera.

Supplies vary because all items are handmade in limited numbers. Contact us to confirm the availability of specific items and titles. We are always grateful for your purchases, which keep us supplied with paper and ink, and ensure that the presses stay running!

Currently Available Limited-Edition Titles

Using historic presses, high-quality papers, and elegant typefaces, the Palace Press produces award-winning limited edition books that are designed and published in collaboration with contemporary writers and artists. The list of available titles is constantly changing as one edition is sold out and another is begun.

For purchasing information, please contact the Palace Press.

Gustave Baumann’s Santa Fe (2019)

Planet Pilgrim, Nanao Sakaki by John Brandi (2017)

The author John Brandi describes the planetary peregrinations and his friendship with Japanese poet Nanao Sakaki. Also friends with Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg, Sakaki was encouraged by them to travel to the US, and in 1971 he was drawn to northern New Mexico where he ended up living in a school bus below Taos Mountain. Sakaki’s poetry is marked by humor and appreciation for a simple lifestyle, the embodiment of unconventional wisdom and spirited non-conformism.

140 copies. Printed letterpress on vintage paper made by the venerable English firm of J. Whatman in 1949, with handmade covers and endsheet papers made by Tibetan Handicraft Industry in Kathmandu, Nepal. $40.

Word Art Poetry Broadside Portfolio (2005)

A series of ten poetry broadsides, printed letterpress on handmade paper by Tom Leech and edited by Gary Mex Glazner. Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye, Kim Addonizio, DJ Renegade, John Brandi, Renée Gregorio, Rita Dove, Sherman Alexie, Lucile Adler, Jane Hirshfield and Gary Mex Glazner.

Each broadside is 12 x 18 inches. Issued in a handmade portfolio with an essay by the editor. $600

Southwest Writer Harvey Fergusson: A Collector's View and Checklist (2001)

Author Saul Cohen opens the door to a best-kept literary secret and guides the reader through a full spectrum of the work of Harvey Fergusson. The book was designed and letterpress printed by Pamela Smith, as her last edition before retirement.

70 pages, 150 signed and numbered copies. Text set in Monotype Baskerville with titling set in Sans Serif Medium. $250

Bulletin in Bold Characters (1990)

A bibliography and history of the Seton Village Press launched near Santa Fe by famed naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton. The book was written by proprietor and printer Maurice Taylor, who shared responsibility for the publishing venture with his wife Marceil, an illustrator and bookbinder. The handsomely crafted edition is punctuated with line artwork reprinted from the original Seton Press editions.

165 copies. Set in Spectrum type and printed on Rives Heavyweight Buff paper. Hand bound in quarter cloth or quarter leather with printed paper covers. Quarter cloth $150. (Edition in quarter leather $175, sold out.)

Broncho vs Bicycle (1987)

A tale of the Old West set to verse in the nineteenth century by Captain Jack Crawford, the “Poet Scout.” A star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and a pioneer in the Black Hills, Crawford wrote hundreds of short stories, songs, poems, and plays depicting the frontier experience. His Broncho vs Bicycle is a rollicking tale of a race between a big wheel bicycle and a “lightning” bronco, with dance hall dames, tenderfoot cyclists, and trail-worn cowboys completing the cast of unforgettable characters. The poem comes to life through the whimsical drawings of cartoonist Sarah Laughlin and races across twenty pages to a surprise ending.

$10 trade edition (Numbered edition of 250, sold out)

Currently Available Chapbooks

"April in Santa" by Joan Logghe (2012)

A poem read before Santa Fe City Council by the city’s third Poet Laureate, the author explains in a note that “Santa” is an affectionate nickname for Santa Fe. Calligraphic cover and title page by Judythe Sieck.

12 pages, sewn paper covers. Letterpress on Hahnemuhle Biblio, 5 x 8 inches, 200 copies. $15

"And So it is Over" by Ernie Pyle (2015)

$25

"Advice to a Traveler to Cuba" by Renée Gregorio (2016)

A lovingly-told poetic account of a visit to Cuba, with a graphic rendering of the author’s photograph of a mural on Havana’s Paseo de Marti.

7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches. Printed on handmade Fabriano Umbria, with a paper cover from Saint-Armand. 105 copies. $20

"Remembering" by Stuart Hall (2017)

As a guest of the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project, Santa Fe poet Stuart Hall read his work at the History Museum twice and at the U.S. Capitol. Stuart suffered from non-Alzheimer’s dementia. Although the disease seriously affected his memory, he was still able to compose over 10,000 limericks and short poems. Many of the poems in this collection are heartbreakingly funny, and well-worth remembering. He died in April, 2016, following a stroke.

24 pages, 9 x 5 inches. 150 copies printed on Ragston paper, with vintage Cockerel marbled paper covers. $25

Out-of-Print Publications

Highly prized by collectors, our out-of-print copies may become available through auctions or specialized book sellers.

Noteworthy titles include:

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (2020)

A stunning 175th anniversary edition of one of the most important books in our nation’s history. The publication was done in collaboration with the renowned Pennyroyal Press and its artist/proprietor, Barry Moser. It features 14 new engravings by Mr. Moser that have been recognized as among the most powerful in his lifetime of masterful work.

7 x 10 ½ inches, 60 copies. The book and its clamshell box were bound by Priscilla Spitler with marbled endpapers by Thomas Leech. $675. OUT OF PRINT

Doctor Franklin & Spain by Thomas E. Chávez (2016)

Benjamin Franklin never journeyed to Spain, yet he did correspond with Spanish leaders and intellectuals. His letters and other correspondence regarding him are housed in at least six different archives in Spain, and they make up a documentary source that until recently has not been examined. This limited-edition book distills from the current work of Thomas E. Chávez, that being a multi-volume compilation of all the documents housed in the archives of Spain that are pertinent to Benjamin Franklin. Dr. Chávez is the former Director of the Palace of the Governors and the National Hispanic Culture Center. Foreword by Dr. Carlos Martínez Shaw, a pre-eminent Spanish historian and member of Spain's Royal Academy of History.

76 pages, 8 x 12 inches. Printed letterpress from polymer plates on Garza Papel Spanish handmade paper, with digital reproductions of original documents. Half-leather goatskin binding by Priscilla Spitler, with marbled boards by Thomas Leech. 80 copies, $425. OUT OF PRINT

Into the Dream Maze by John Brandi (2014)

An homage to the wandering poets of Japan that John Brandi has followed for years, and also a love-letter to New Mexico’s land, sky, prayed-for water, ancient people and next-door neighbors. In a preface to Into the Dream Maze, novelist John Nichols writes, “Here is an autobiography in fifteen prose poems and sweet haikus and whimsical joyous pictures. They reveal a man in harmony with the natural environment, a soul at peace with itself and with the vast energy surrounding it. The effect is wonderful. We should all love the world this much.”

40 pages, 8 x 10 inches. Printed letterpress on Revere Book paper in a limited edition of 35 copies, bound by Rosalia Galassi in paste paper covers by Madeleine Duran and contained in a clamshell box covered in Japanese Asahi silk. $400. OUT OF PRINT

O’Keeffe Stories by Margaret Wood (2012)

Runner-up for the 2014 Carl Hertzog Award! Lovely vignettes by Miss O’Keeffe’s cook and caregiver, a sensitive account of the later years of the artist’s life. Features an engraved portrait of O’Keeffe by Barry Moser. Binding by Rosalia Galassi.

56 pages, 6.5 x 9.18 inches, paste paper boards, letterpress on Hahnemuhle Bugra. 110 copies, $225 OUT OF PRINT

Road to the Cloud’s House by John Brandi and Renée Gregorio (2007)

65 copies, 32 pages, 8.37 x 12.5 inches, letterpress on Frankfurt paper, with marbled boards by Tom Leech. Prose poems reflecting the authors’ sojourn to Chiapas, Mexico. Mayan glyph on title page designed by Mark Van Stone. Binding by Rosalia Galassi. $175 OUT OF PRINT

"This is How it Began" by Valerie Martinez (2010)

This poem by Santa Fe’s second Poet Laureate takes in the geography, geology, flora, fauna, anthropology and history of Santa Fe, from the Big Bang to a scene in a local restaurant.

75 copies. 5.12 x 11.5 inches. 32 pages. Letterpress on four colors of Hahnemuhle Bugra paper, with marbled boards by Tom Leech. $100 OUT OF PRINT

"Why New Mexico is the Match of Texas" by S. Omar Barker (2011)

A satiric look at the historic rivalry of two southwestern states. First published in 1947, this version is updated for the 21st century.

12 pages, sewn paper covers. 5.75 x 8.62 inches. Letterpress printed and hand-set in Centaur and Arrighi. “100 copies (more or less),” $15 OUT OF PRINT

Loving Horses by Jon Davis (2014)

From 2012 to 2014, Jon Davis was Santa Fe's fourth Poet Laureate.

16 pages, 7 x 8 ¾ inches, 75 copies. Printed on Hahnemuhle Biblio, with St. Armand paper covers. The typeface is Centaur, with calligraphic titles by Judythe Sieck. $40. OUT OF PRINT

Jack Thorp’s Songs of the Cowboys (2012)

Winner of the 2014 Carl Hertzog Award! Introduced and edited by Mark Lee Gardner, with audio CD performed by Mark Lee Gardner and Rex Rideout. Illustrations by Ronald Kil.

80 pages, 8 x 10.75 inches, 100 copies. Letterpress on Hahnemuhle Biblio, with cover and endpapers of handmade paper by Tom Leech. Binding by Priscilla Spitler. $350. OUT OF PRINT

Palace Press Broadsides

Since 2002, the Press at the Palace of the Governors has issued over fifty letterpress poetry broadsides. Please contact us for a complete list of titles, poets, availability and prices.

Forthcoming Publications