Rope-a-Dope Books

RUN by Kim Gek Lin Short

2010-04-27T13:15:00.001-07:00

In the technicolor timewarp called Hell, Hong Kong wannabe cowgirl La La is hellbent on realizing her dream to be a folk-singing sensation, even if it means surviving a dysfunctional relationship with her kidnapper, Ren, who is just hellbent. Ren thinks he'll win, but La La, dead or alive, always wins.

Kim Gek Lin Short's manuscript was selected from among the many dozens of submissions we received during our Golden Gloves open reading period. Congratulations, Kim.

Printed in an edition of 144 with archival ink at the Distillery in South Boston.

Our thanks to all who helped us print and fold and sew, and especially to artist Morgan Thomas, who drew the boots for the cover.

$10 includes shipping.

Split Decision

2010-01-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

The final collection of Manila Broadsides from Rope-a-Dope Press and The So and So Series. A slide show here.

Poems by: Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Elizabeth Bradfield, Lily Brown, Sommer Browning, Jennifer Firestone, Kevin Gallagher, Rauan Klassnik, Dorothea Lasky, Justin Marks, Hazel McClure, Lisa Olstein, Sarah Rosenthal, Zachary Schomburg, Janaka Stucky, James Tate, Jon Thompson, Aaron Tieger, Besty Wheeler, Dara Wier, and Mark Yakich

Prints by: Bartleby, Thomas Buildmore, Scott Chasse, Mike Dacey, Robert daVies, Tricia Gray, Vanessa Irzyk, and Carrie Siegel

Colophon

A collaboration between Rope-a-Dope Press and The So and So Series, Split Decision was made by hand in an edition of twelve in the autumn of 2009. The first twelve of each of The Manila Broadsides, Volume Two, published between April and October 2008 in editions of sixty, are collected within its covers. Our thanks to all of the Manila poets and artists--especially Mike Dacey, who lent us his Vandercook.

Curator, The So and So Series: Chris Tonelli
Art Direction, The Manila Broadsides: Robert daVies
Letterpress Printing: Jeremiah Gould & Mary Walker Graham
Book Design & Production: Mary Walker Graham

Cover: Iris bookcloth; screenprint & stencil by Thomas Buildmore
Endpages: Hahnemuhle Bugra; screenprint by Robert daVies
Text: Rives BFK; handset metal type printed on a Vandercook SP20
Binding: handwaxed linen thread

[Photo Credit: Jeremiah Gould. Thanks Jeremiah! You rule.]

Voir Dire

2009-03-05T12:13:00.001-08:00

Justin Marks is the author of A Million in Prizes (New Issues Press, April 2009). He is the founder and editor of Kitchen Press Chapbooks and lives in New York City with his wife and their infant son and daughter.

Rope-a-Dope Press, 2009. Letterpress printed in an edition of 96, with illustrations by Robert daVies. $8 includes shipping.

City of Moths

2008-11-25T20:46:00.001-08:00

City of Moths, by Sampson Starkweather, is now available.

“My friend thinks that poetry has nothing to do with words. Poetry, she says, is a mountain. An actual mountain. A thing that fools climb simply ‘because it’s there.’ Poetry is there, but why do we constantly feel the need to prove it exists? To point to it? Like a mountain appearing in the distance. ‘Be an uncarved block of wood’ is what the Sarah Lawrence kids, who hadn’t slept in 40-some hours, still high off ecstasy and acid, sitting Indian-style on the rock, otherwise-silent, would shout at me during tennis matches. They were right. What lies in the uncarved block of wood. Whorls and grains, stories and held smoke. Surrounded by. My block of wood, another person’s mountain. The sound of a finger pointing to some unseen thing. To be reckoned with, or perhaps, reckoned by. Something to draw a door in” (page 6, City of Moths).

Sampson Starkweather was born in Pittsboro, North Carolina. He is the author of The Photograph from horse less press. His work can be found in Typo, Octopus, jubilat, Absent, Tarpaulin Sky, RealPoetik, and Sink Review. He lives in the woods alone.

Golden Gloves Chapbook Series, 2008/2009. Stab bound, with letterpress printed cover. Printed in an addition of 144, of which the first twelve are signed by the author. $10 includes shipping.

SOLD OUT.

the JUNGLE

2008-02-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

If you're here for your copy of The Jungle, our handbound anthology of The Manila Broadsides, please send an email to ropeadope.press@gmail.com to let us know you'd like to buy one. We'll then swaddle it in bubblewrap and mail it in a nice cushiony cloud straight to your door.

13" x 11", hardcover, Coptic binding. Featuring So and So poets Shafer Hall, Cecily Parks, Ravi Shankar, Dan Boehl, Dan Hoy, Gina Myers, Michael Carr, C.S. Carrier, Lori Shine, Phil Cordelli, Hazel McClure, Keith Newton, Douglas Hahn, Daniel Magers, Maya Pindyck, Andrea Baker, Jennifer Bartlett, and Reb Livingston; and artists Anna Trzaska, James Weinberg, Catherine Bourassa-Hebert, Sadie Bliss, Robert daVies, and Nik Gulacsik.

A collaboration between Rope-a-Dope Press and The So and So Series, The Jungle was made by hand in an edition of twelve in January 2008. The covers, doublures, and end pages were printed on LamaLi and Rives BFK papers using lead type, polymer plates, and screenprints. The text throughout was set by hand on a Vandercook SP20 in the typeface Caslon.

The Manila Broadsides were printed in editions of seventy-two each on Rives BFK and French Co. papers. Thanks to all of the Manila poets and artists.

Special thanks to Robert Charlton, Mike Dacey, Cynthia Dromgoole at the South Boston Public Library, and the Distillery.

The Jungle is $240 + $10 for shipping. Please email to arrange payment & shipping.

Victory

2008-01-07T08:26:00.001-08:00

Chad Reynolds' chapbook, Victor in the New World, with illustrations by Robert daVies, is now available for purchase. $12 includes shipping.

Victor in the New World was printed in an edition of 144, of which the first 12 are signed by the author and artist.

The cover was printed on Canson MiTientes on a Vandercook SP-20 with handset metal type and polymer plates from Boxcar Press. The interior was printed with archival ink on French Co. paper at Square Root Imaging. The text is Adobe Caslon Pro, based on William Caslon's original typeface and drawn by Carol Twombly in 1989.

Thanks to Catherine Bourassa-Hebert, Robert Charlton, Mike Dacey, and Nathan Demant.

Hurry! The first 12 signed copies will be the first to go.

SOLD OUT.

2008-01-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

Back Cover:

Epigraph:

Interior detail: