The Paper Plant
The Paper Plant is a small press and book arts enterprise which became the nexus of Raleigh alternative arts in the ’80s. John Dancy-Jones, publisher, printer, and papermaker, continues with private projects, mail art, and online archiving, but the website and its blog The Bibliophile, have been retired.
The Paper Plant
Small Press Titles & Hand-laid Paper Products
The Paper Plant Press publishes broadsides, folders and chapbooks using hand-laid recycled paper and letterpress printing in conjunction with current desktop publishing technologies. From 1983-90, the Paper Plant bookstore sponsored a weekly open poetry series, and many of the chapbook authors emerged from that setting. Twenty published titles include award-winning alternative literature, a fine arts calendar, and a children’s book. Many of our writers regularly feature as performance poets. We seek to present an alternative take on the publishing process, looking for non-academic, even non-literary influences, in a search for poetry as an oral art, in a belief that poetry is an essential and multifarious expression of life.
John Dancy-Jones, Publisher, Printer & Papermaker
The Paper Plant
257 Baird Cove Rd.
Asheville, NC 28804
919-618-6883
We make hand-laid paper using high-quality scrap, natural fibers, and cotton linters. We form the sheets with an English laid mould and our own silkscreen frames for larger sheets. I print with a 9 x 13 Kelsey Excelsior press and a Kelsey business card press.
John has taught hundreds of individual workshops, including helping working artists with papermaking, and conducted workshops at NCSU’s College of Design, UNC-CH’s Sunday Lecture Series, Meredith and Peace College art departments, NC Governor’s School, and many others.
Asheville Made article about the new studios
for info on papermaking classes, click here.
Paper Plant Publishing Chronology
Light at the Seam Joseph Bathanti
A poem set in coal-bearing Appalachia published on the occasion of ReVIEWING 14, the BMC conference where Joseph is a regular presenter. Vintage copper block illustration.
- Broadside $10.00 order here ($2 shipping)
Whoso List to Hunt Thomas Wyatt
One of the very first sonnets written in English, Sir Thomas Wyatt’s poem is based on Petrarch, the Italian master who established the form. Hand-laid paper made partly from banana tree fiber, letterpress printed, with a stenciled monoprint. 4.5 x 11.5″.
- Broadside $12.00 order here ($2 shipping)
Fish, a broadside by Ted Pope
Ted Pope is a stalwart and beloved fixture at the Black Mountain College conference held each year by the BMC+AC. His installation will be part of Appalachia Now!, the show that opens the newly renovated Asheville Art Museum. To celebrate, the Paper Plant published this broadside.
- broadside. Letterpress on hand-laid paper. $10.00 order here. ($2 shipping)
The Natural History of Raleigh
- 80 pp 8/12 x 11 stapled trade paper with hand-laid paper cover printed with block image and letterpress. $15.00 ISBN 978-0-929170-17-6
Order directly here ($2 shipping). Order from Amazon
The Little Heel. Lee Moore. illustrated by David Larson.
This quaint and quirky tale is for divergent-thinking children of all ages. Originally published as a serial in FARCE, the cultural newsletter of The Paper Plant bookstore, this chapbook presents the entire story with the hitherto unpublished conclusion. Five illustrations by David Larson illuminate the Little Heel’s memorable misadventures.
- chapbook $7.50. order here. ISBN 0-929170-16-4. order here
David Larson’s 2000 Calendar. David Larson. Editor John Dancy-Jones.
- Monochrome illustrated calendar. $12.00 order here.
We Humbly Declare a Debt. Ralph Dunn. Illustrated by author.
- Poetry chapbook $7.50. order here.
The Uninvited Guest. Billy Odom. Illustrated by David Larson.
- Poetry chapbook $7.50. order here.
Paper Voices. Various NC poets.
Gerald Barrax broadside
Broadside series produced by The Paper Plant for featured readings at City Gallery for Contemporary Art, Raleigh, NC. Jaki Shelton Green, Al Maginnes, Alan Shapiro, Debra Kaufman, Doris Davenport, and more.
1991-93. OP
FARCE!, The newsletter of The Paper Plant, with calendars and reviews as well as art and writing. The paper box I designed to hold them for subscribers includes a one-page index to all the issues. $12.00
1989-1990. 4 vol. set. Order here.
Mind Snakes. Richard Butner. Illustrated by Michael Carter.
1988. Chapbook. $7.50 order here
Performance Poems. John Dancy-Jones.
Translations from the Unconscious. Clyde Smith.
Winner of the 1987 Southern Books Competition special award for alternative publishing.
1985.chapbook. $7.50 order here. order from Amazon
Non-Fiction Poems. Bob Rogers.
By The Blood. Ralph Dunn.
DOUBLE CHAPBOOK _ TWO FOR ONE COMBINED – 40 total pp. with hand-laid letterpress cover.
- $10.00 Order here
Innocent Mistakes. Mary Pat Kellagher
1985.chapbook. OP.
Hooker Van Dusen. John Dancy-Jones. Illustrated by David Larson.
- Peloria Press imprint. 40 pp perfect bound chapbook. $8.00 order here
The Whitney. Clyde Smith.
- Poetry pamphlet. OP.
Red Riding Hood. Mary Otto. Illustrated by David Larson.
- Prose pamphlet. $4.00 order here.
Kisses. Fred Chappell.
- Poetry folder. $8.00. order here.
a poem. Ron Ridgeway.
- Broadside. OP
Blood Signs. Clyde Smith. Monoprint illustration.
- Broadside. OP.
Samsara, Instead of Tears (For Louie). Geneva Green
- Folder. (+ a couple of T-shirts!) OP.
An Infinity of Words, Liquid. John Dancy-Jones. Monoprint illustration
- Poetry folder. OP
Mother-Daughter. Andi Reynolds. 1983. Poetry postcard. OP
Coals. David Kelly. 1983. Poetry postcard. OP
Whosoever List to Hunt. Thomas Wyatt.
- Broadside with stencil illustration.
The Bibliophile.
- Catalog of rare booksellers edited by John Dancy-Jones. OP
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portrait by Guillermo Velasco
Raleigh Rambles 