The Cartographer's Daughter
The Cartographer's Daughter
A novel of maps and migrations, set between the atlas rooms of Lisbon and the fishing harbours of Newfoundland. Winner of the 2025 Orison Prize.
Read MorePenny Farthing Press is a small, fiercely independent publisher of literary fiction, essay collections, and illustrated non-fiction. We believe a book is not a product — it is an object of permanence. Every title we release is edited by hand, designed in-house, and printed on paper chosen with the same care a clockmaker reserves for a brass gear.
We take our name from the penny-farthing: an eccentric, elegant machine that dared to be different — and got somewhere remarkable by moving at its own pace.
Penny Farthing Press began in a rented room above a bicycle repair shop in East London, with two editors, a shared desk, and a stubborn idea: that the books most worth publishing are rarely the ones the market is shouting for.
A decade later, we are still small on purpose. We publish between eight and twelve titles a year — no more. Each one receives an editor's undivided attention for months, a designer's obsession for weeks, and a printer's patience for as long as the paper demands. We reject far more manuscripts than we accept, not out of snobbery, but out of respect: for the writer, for the reader, and for the object itself.
Our catalog spans literary fiction, long-form essays, translation, illustrated non-fiction, and the occasional limited-edition letterpress volume. We sell directly to readers, through independent bookshops, and to the libraries and institutions that keep culture upright. We pay our authors a fair royalty, we pay our printers on time, and we keep our promises in writing.
We believe publishing is an act of stewardship. A book, at its best, is a message passed hand to hand across generations — a small, sturdy machine for carrying ideas forward. That is the work we are here to do, and we intend to keep doing it for a long while yet.
“We do not chase trends. We chase sentences that will still be worth reading when the trend has been forgotten.”
Every manuscript passes through at least four rounds of structural and line editing before it earns a design. We build books the old way — slowly, and out loud.
Typography is not decoration. Our in-house studio designs every cover, every margin, every node of the spine — because a book's form should argue for its content.
Acid-free papers, sewn bindings, vegetable-based inks. We print with a small family bindery in Verona and a lithographer in Portland, Oregon.
Authors keep 18% of net on every copy — above the industry standard. Advances are modest but honest, and royalties are paid twice a year, on the day.
We keep every stage of the making process under our own roof, so that nothing is lost between the writer's intent and the reader's hands.
We read every submission ourselves — no gatekeepers, no interns, no algorithmic screening. Accepted manuscripts enter a structured editorial programme with a named editor who stays with the book from contract to launch.
Our in-house studio works with custom type families, commissioned illustration, and a deep archive of paper samples. Covers are argued over for weeks; interiors are set with the same obsession.
Offset for the trade, letterpress for the limited editions, Risograph for the zines we can't help making. Every run is proofed in person — ink on paper, before it goes to the press.
Independent bookshops first, libraries second, the internet third. We ship carefully, we accept returns honestly, and we keep our backlist available in print for as long as it deserves to be.
Salons, readings, and open editorial workshops held in our London and Brooklyn spaces. We believe a press is not a business — it is a place, and places are made of people.
We represent a growing list of world rights and work closely with translators on our own translation series. Foreign rights enquiries are always welcome and usually answered within a week.
Six titles from the last two seasons. Full catalog available on request; backlist goes back to 2014.
A novel of maps and migrations, set between the atlas rooms of Lisbon and the fishing harbours of Newfoundland. Winner of the 2025 Orison Prize.
Read MoreTwelve essays on craft, attention, and the dignity of slow work — from a watchmaker's bench to a linotype operator's final shift.
Read MoreA season-by-season compendium of folk practices, recipes, and field notes, illustrated with 140 original engravings in two colours.
Read MoreThe first English translation of Yevgenia Marsh's 1971 correspondence, rendered by Anna Volkov with an introductory essay by the translator.
Read MoreBeneath every city runs a river that has been forgotten. A walking companion, an urban archive, and a meditation on what we bury and why.
Read MoreNine hand-stitched letters from the poet Mireille Hasp, printed letterpress in an edition of 250 on Zerkall mould-made paper. Signed.
Read MoreAnnouncements, essays, and dispatches from the studio — new titles, prize news, and reflections on the trade.
We read every submission that reaches us. Please send a one-page synopsis, a sample chapter of up to 5,000 words, and a short author biography. Response times average six to eight weeks — and are always personal, never automated.
Send a Manuscript →