Letterpress Brings Every Word To Life
❧ All of our books are printed letterpress on a 1956 Heidelberg Windmill Platen press by master printer, Ian Bristow, in Cornwall, Ontario
❧ This artisanal technique creates a crisp, embossed imprint in the page, an effect that cannot be found in today's mass-produced books
OUR MATERIALS
Premium, 100% Cotton Paper
Made of pure cotton, our paper is acid-free, archival quality, and will maintain its creamy feel for hundreds of years. Both top-quality and sustainable, our paper is made from 100% cotton linters, a by-product of cotton garment production that would otherwise go to waste.
Traceable, USA Sourced Leather
Traceability of animal hides in our supply chain is of key concern to us. The goats whose hides we use are pasture-raised on a family farm in Texas. Here they live a natural life, humanely raised with a strict vegetarian diet, free of antibiotics and added hormones.
Full-Grain Goatskin Hides
Our leather bindings are made from the honest hide of an animal. You're getting the real deal: full-grain leather, considered the best and highest quality leather available. This type of leather can be naturally marked with features from each animal like creases, wrinkles, and insect bites. This means that no Century Press book will look exactly the same.
All-Natural Vegetable Tanning
Our leather is tanned at a boutique, family-owned tannery located in New York's Hudson Valley. Here, the goatskins are cleaned, de-haired, and are vegetable-tanned by hand using techniques and machines that go back generations. Vegetable tanning is a natural process relying on tree tannins and water, rather than environmentally harmful chrome tanning.
A message from the founder
I started Century Press because readers deserve better. As we build our book collections, our books build us. Why should such meaningful objects be mass-produced and unremarkable? Know that when you purchase a Century Press edition, you're acquiring a superior object, built to be pleasurably read and proudly displayed for generations.
- Alex Simon