ABOUT

    Persephassa was a small press located in Providence, Rhode Island. The 'press' really amounted to a desktop computer, a laser-jet printer, a work table and a paper cutter set up on a sewing machine table. The books were edited, designed and bound by Roxanne M Carter (that's me). The text was primarily set in Gills Sans, a humanist sans serif designed by Eric Gill in 1931. Most of the books in the catalogue are an extension of the works available for viewing on persephassa.com (the notebooks, novellas and photographs), but occasionally other projects were taken on, such as the following phrases, hothouse, Mariam Firunt's debut novel, The Beauty Secrets of Margarita Morozova, and Ryan and Hilarie Hildebrand's joint poetry chapbook, thousands in/a minimum of space. Persephassa small press stopped production in early 2007, but select titles from the catalogue continue to be available from Lulu.com as print-on-demand paperback books.

    The press was inspired by the fine press books of artists like Maureen Cummins (Innana Press), Gloria Stuart (Imprenta Glorias) and by women publishers who had taken the task to hand and self published their own works, as well as the works of those in their communities - Anaïs Nin with her Gemor Press, Nancy Cunard and the Hours Press, Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press, and Alta's Shameless Hussy Press. The first book issued under the persephassa imprint was drown, in 2003. An earlier edition of drown, photocopied and bound with black electrical tape, was issued in 2000.

    All books were handmade: laser-jet printed on paper from MR FRENCH (a family owned paper mill) and Fraser Paper; block prints made with oil-based ink and matte photos professionally printed on archival paper. Archival quality glue, photo corners and tape tabs were used to affix images to the books. I used a power drill to do the bindings, and other assorted practical things: a paper cutter, a bone folder, tapestry needles and crochet thread.

MAILING LIST

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    Persephassa uses Google Groups to manage it's mailing list. The group is Announcement Only. You will receive occasional updates about activities here at the press, such as information about newly issued titles, and such stuff.

IN THE COLLECTIONS OF

• UC Irvine Special Collections
• The Poetry and Rare Books Collection, University of Buffalo, New York
• Mobilivre 2005, an annual touring exhibition of artist books, zines, and independent publications traveling by way of a vintage Airstream.
• San Diego State University : West Coast Zine Collection

SOMETIMES AVAILABLE AT

• Boston Zine Fair, at MassArt, March 2007
• Craftland in Providence [photos]
• AS220 Bazaar Bizarre, an occasional craft fair in Providence, Rhode Island
• Boston Bazaar Bizarre, 2005 [photos]
• City Lights in San Francisco, an independant bookstore co-founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
• day-lab, a fabulous handmade/DIY online shop.
• MCNally Robinson NYC, a big, beautiful independent bookstore in New York's Nolita.
• Providence Zine Fest, an annual event hosted by AS220
• Quimby's, awesome bookstore in Chicago that stocks hundreds of zines
• Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee, WI

VISIT OUR FRIENDS

• Critical Documents, Publisher of Contemporary Poetry edited by Justin Katko in Providence, RI
• clementine press, Richenda Brim does letterpress from her apartment in Los Angeles
• horseless press, edited by team Jen Tynes & Erika Howsare, based in Denver, CO
• your saved life, features the work of devorah brandon, a talented writer who lives in Arizona

more links to artist's sites & handmade goods here