There's a special place in Owen County nestled along Sawridge Creek that is sacred ground for Kentucky writers.

The publishing company Larkspur Press is a who's who of Kentucky poets and novelists, and the community of artists who produce these handmade books is bound by their love of art and traditional craftsmanship.

[music playing] When we visited Larkspur Press back in 1999, Gray Zeitz was doing exactly what he's still doing today, publishing the work of Kentucky writers with unparalleled care and craftsmanship.

Since 1974, Larkspur Press has built a legacy, one handmade book at a time.

[music playing] I do the design work, and I work directly with the author and, if there is going to be illustrations, directly with the artist.

The author sees everything I'm doing and can give me feedback on it, and things change sometimes, and that's good.

Two heads are better than one.

If two heads are better than one, then how about four heads?

Like so many other Larkspur publications, Bound to the Moon is a collective effort of the Larkspur community, a poet from Franklin County, an engraver from Baghdad, a marbled paper artist from Louisville, and a longtime printer from Monterey.

It's really a collaboration.

I mean, it's kind of neat that each of us had a part, and that part was important in and of itself.

But the combination of all of us working together, it made this cohesive whole beautiful thing.

The collaborative nature of the project starts with Gray.

Obviously, it's his press, and he invites people to be part of it.

And I think if any one person changes, the book changes.

So, if Joanne didn't do the engravings and somebody else did them, then that would be a slightly different story even though it's the same words.

So, this is a piece of end-grain This is what I do engraving on.

This particular species is boxwood, and the block itself is also toned in a dark color.

And I think one of the magical things that happens under the glass is that you're really engraving light.

And as you're engraving, you're, like, kind of letting in the light.

[music playing] And I walk in this light, passing under several-story oak and maple and beech and in and out of pawpaw groves where low leaves leach a pale green into the mix, and I become less bright and less dark.

That loss or sadness, I can look at it straight on.

[music playing] Mark Schimmoeller's parents inspired a passion for the natural world and a sense of adventure as he and his sisters grew up.

For more than 25 years, Mark and his wife, Jennifer, have lived off the grid in the hills of Franklin County.

They live in concert with their environment, using cedar wood from the land to build their home and collecting energy from the sun and water from the rain.

It's important for us to live this way because I think we get a lot of pleasure from being close to what supports us.

And supporting artists is something Larkspur Press has been doing for decades.

In fact, that's where Debbie Shannon got her start with marbling paper.

The first time I marbled paper was at Larkspur Press, and I was there for a book workshop.

I still have the book that I made there, and I was so proud of it.

And if you would see this, it is the ugliest sheet of marbled paper I've probably ever kept, but it's the most important one because that's where I got my passion for it.

What I love about marbled paper is that it's not entirely in your control.

You're printing on water, so that's not in your control how the water works.

A lot of things affect it, the weather, the humidity, and all that stuff.

And there's just something magical about it, because when you put the paper down, you really don't know until you pull the paper off what it's gonna look like.

[music playing] Inspired by the Luna moth and Mark's poem “The Problem with Big Wings,” Debbie's marbled paper design creates the perfect cover for the special edition of Bound to the Moon.

It's just one of the things that makes Larkspur's special editions so special.

If a regular edition is 400 copies, a special edition may be 32 or 42 copies.

For the special edition, I'll pick a paper from Japan, France, Germany, England, and usually, the paper for those 32 or 42 copies costs as much as the paper for those 400 copies.

[Laughs] So, the special edition is a little more expensive.

Aside from the paper in those beautiful covers, both editions are crafted with the same care, and they both include Joanne's incredible illustrations.

Looking for visual references within the poetry is always, like, one of the first things I do.

They say moss can grow on the back of a beetle.

They say that each tiny moss leaf is shaped to make a home for water.

And so, I had taken a beetle and put it in one of the illustrations.

And then, also, the idea of a firefly, I thought, was really cool.

And just these quiet living places [music playing] inside their environment, I think, were really important to his poetry and to his work.

[music playing] After the text and illustrations are printed, Larkspur books are hand-sewn.

Using a wooden frame, Gray's longtime assistant, Leslie Shane, continues this traditional practice.

And the handwork continues throughout the entire process of assembling, gluing, and binding the books.

It's fun to hand-sew books.

It's fun to set tight by hand.

There's no telling how many times these sheets of paper are touched in the whole process.

People talk about tobacco and how many times you touch it.

Well, we're right in there, I mean.

[Laughs] At Larkspur Press, it is as it's always been.

The passion is in the process, and the work is always about the words.

Gray Zeitz has created something that celebrates Kentucky writers, artists, and craftspeople.

It's bound by art, and it promises that these voices will touch generations to come.

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