Thornwillow Press was founded in 1985 by Luke Ives Pontifell who spent his summer vacations from college printing and hand-binding books. What started as a labor of love has grown into one of the leading fine press publishers in the world. Specializing in letterpress printing, engraving, and custom bookbinding, Thornwillow consolidates centuries of craft and technique in a complex of historic buildings in Newburgh, New York.

In subscribing to a Thornwillow publication, you not only add a beautiful and important volume to your library… you support a team of designers, printers, and binders who have dedicated themselves to these arts. Learn more and engage with the world of Thornwillow by following our blog, A Life of Letters.

“Each of these machines has its own story to tell and,
like the books that we publish, each has its own unique story.”

Since our founding, Thornwillow has published over 90 unique editions. We are proud to have published original work by some of the world’s leading writers, poets, artists, political leaders, scholars, historians, and journalists — from William L. Shirer to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.; from Walter Cronkite to Chief Justice Warren Burger; from James Merrill to Mark Strand; from Helmut Kohl to Barack Obama, from John Updike to Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

In 2015, the Thornwillow Institute was founded to teach and perpetuate the related arts and crafts of the written word. We believe that how we communicate and preserve ideas matters. Objects you can touch, keep, and share are central to the identity of our culture. These objects become the legacy of our society. They memorialize our values, triumphs, challenges, and dreams. The Thornwillow Institute is dedicated to passing down the arts and crafts of the written word which, increasingly, are endangered. We do this through partnerships with institutions and fellowships with individual artists, students, and makers.

The Thornwillow Makers Village in Newburgh, New York, is our campus, with the press at its center. In this complex of historic buildings, we are developing work studios, affordable housing, a gallery and event space, a market place, classrooms, an audio recording and video studio, and a community bookstore and cafe.

“Ultimately, what we do is a very simple thing.
It’s black ink on white paper. And from that very
simple combination, one can open up visions of the universe.”