Lettre Sauvage

Welcome...

Lettre Sauvage is a family run letterpress printing and design studio. Every Lettre Sauvage note card, invitation, or fine press edition is a hand made original printed on archival, sustainable paper. Our restored vintage presses leave an impression that will add impact to any communication or event.

Effective timely communication is our central focus. We seek out archival and sustainable materials and methods. All work is made out of love, not just love of the results, but each activity and movement that creates the whole. We share our knowledge and preserve the best elements of printing history, instruction, processes, presses, and materials.

Featured items...


matchbook	poetry contest	weddings	custom printing	note cards	chapbooks

Lettre Sauvage Poetry Contest

2008 Contest Winners

Lettre Sauvage is delighted to announce the winner of its First Annual Poetry Contest: Erin M. Bertram of Saint Louis, Missouri, whose manuscript Windfall was selected by Mark Irwin.

The second place prize was awarded to Kimberly Andrews of State College, Pennsylvania. Her poem, "As In Nowhere, No-One" was chosen by Mark Irwin to be printed as a letterpress broadside.

Unless clearly stated otherwise, all content (C) & (P) 2008 Lettre Sauvage, any duplication, republication, or alteration, is strictly forbidden without permission from the specific content's originator/s. (In other words don't steal our designs, ideas, texts, or images without asking and being granted permission. Legal systems are mainly there to protect those who can afford them, so think about what you can afford, and then just make us an offer.) Lettre Sauvage, it's agents, employees, and creators make no guarantee regarding the fitness or suitability of this site to any particular purpose whether intententional or unintentional. Lettre Sauvage will not honor any claim or demand for compensation related to the veracity, currency, or stability, of the information offered on this site. Lettre Sauvage, it's agents, employees, and creators reserve the right to alter or deface or otherwise completely mess up any content or information stored on this site, at our discretion. By using this site you agree to abide by the contracts made availble on this initial body of text (body.htm) and thereby release any and all claims for compensation or damages related to the use, abuse, accuracy, or suitability of this site or any of it's content for any purpose, regardless of whether any percieved injury or damage is the direct or indirect result of any negligence, action, or inaction on the part of Lettre Sauvage, it's agents, employees, and creators. Lettre Sauvage does not store, retrieve, or make available any user data on this site. All data related to purchases and shopping initialized from this site are sent to secured servers at PayPal for verification storage and processing, Lettre Sauvage does not verify, store, process, or make available any payment or credit related information. Any and all email, or contact information, or texts provided by users through links or forms directly on lettresauvage.com become publishable property of Lettre Sauvage it's creators, maintainers, or agents. (In other words if you say something incredibly mean, or funny, or even totally nice to us... we can publish it, we do have presses and some knowledge about website creation, and we do read our email so this should be pretty obvious.)

This website was cobbled together using notepad, javascript, & CSS. All items printed and photographed by Lettre Sauvage (most likely within a 2 block radius of our home studio.) The revolution begins at home, start something.

	Genevieve Yue, author of Negative Sky: “In March 2006, I found a collection of old photographs in a novelty store in Taos, New Mexico. Very few of the pictures came with any identification, and it was evident that many had been torn out of albums and scrapbooks. I selected eight images and wrote pieces accompanying each. They were, to me, like ghosts: I knew little about where they came from, but was immediately struck, even haunted, by the expressions and postures that had been frozen in the photographs. I wanted Negative Sky, in writing and in print, to convey this sense of both intimacy and distance.”
$24
The book Negative Sky is a limited edition of 80. The old, faded snapshots were scanned and "translated" digitally in a mimesis of the poet's own claiming and distorting of the images. The resulting photopolymer plates were printed on the Chandler & Price platen press. The poems were printed from magnesium plates on the Pilot tabletop press to achieve the uneven quality that makes some of the words seem out of focus. A chipboard cover and rice paper spine finish off this collection of 8 poems and 8 snapshots. Lettre Sauvage 2006-2008.


matchbook sized stationery
inserted into replies or left on counter tops
1.5 x 1.5 - tear out perforated sheets 10 pages - salvage and tree free paper. Matchbooks can be printed with your own design and information. 150 pieces for only $300. See our custom printing page for other design ideas and examples.

The first annual Lettre Sauvage Poetry Contest...

commences this fall and will be judged by distinguished poet and scholar, Mark Irwin. The first prize will be an edition of chapbooks and the second prize and edition of broadsides designed and letterpress printed in our studio. Please see the announcement (PDF) for details and the guidelines (PDF) to prepare submissions. Check out our editions for a sampling of our current publications.


Our hand-bound catalog of wedding stationery is hot off the press! It's been fun to have so much book binding in our studio this spring! We hope creating custom wedding stationery from our book will bring joy to many brides-to-be.

11 original designs 22 colors and 14 type faces hand sewn binding w/ hard covers

Business Stationery...

Letterpress is the decided preference for professional stationery from business cards to thank you notes. We enjoy providing personal, detail oriented service and meeting great companies. Hilary Sedgewick of 03 World Media shared this endorsement: “They look great and we have been getting great feedback on them (the red was spot on). They truly look wonderful. You were such a pleasure to work with as well because I have definitely had some nightmares with previous Printers.”

		Our satationery... offers design with an artistic sensibility elegantly printed on tree-free paper. Letterpress printing, which dates back to the 15th century, is set apart by its deep, textured imprint. In a modern age of computer printing, letterpress feels different to the touch and strikes the eye with its soft grooves and shadows. It is the preferred printing process for fine stationery and valued keepsakes. Our ideas on sustainability apply not only to the environment but also to our relationships. We blend the best of past achievements in printing and design with contemporary methods and refinements.
Distant phone lines, longing.
$5.00	$17.00
4.78 x 3.25 folded card w/ khaki envelope 100% reclaimed cotton - blank inside

	A letterpress chapbook... is a work of fine art containing a short and carefully selected manuscript. Usually a single signature sewn on the spine, as in Long Portrait (pictured), or a creative yet simple binding to suit the books theme, as used in ‘Negative Sky’. Outside of our editions, we publish collaboratively with writers to create their chapbooks. Trained printers are also encouraged to rent the studio to work on their own publishing projects.
Mark Irwin's ‘Long Portrait’. $25
A limited edition of 80 chapbooks printed from hand-set 12 point Bembo Book typeface & 12 point Univers for the titles. The text paper is Crane’s Lettra pearl white. The cover is Stonehenge gray. 2007.