Oakland, CA: The Prototype Press, 2015. Hardcover. Number 23 of 75 copies signed by the author and artist. Kirk Lombard is self-described as a small fish enthusiast, writer, tour guide, teacher, musician, actor, inveterate blogger, raconteur, commercial fisherman, puppet master, tenor, baseball historian, and…champion eel fisherman. He is the author of The Sea Forager's Guide to the Northern California Coast. His blog was called The Monkeyface News.

From the press website: "From the dank holes and fetid shores of Kirk Lombard's mind comes a deeply strange book, part memoir, part how-to, and part poetry, all teaching of his dealings with learning how to catch -- and use to its full potential -- the storied Monkeyface Eel from in and around the shores of the San Francisco Bay." This was the first publication issued by The Prototype Press. The author describes how to fish for the monkeyface eel, how to tan an eel skin, and offers recipes for cooking eel.

The book is printed in three colors on Somerset Book Paper from Monotype Hess Old Style and hand-set Libra types. The title page and Parts I & II are foil-stamped; the illustrations are printed relief from linoleum carvings done by Leighton Kelly. The cover is orange cow leather and green handmade paper from Twinrocker. Title in gilt to spine. The paper bears the watermark of Shotwell, as well a fishing hook, added specially for the project.There is a separate booklet of appendices of poems by Lombard. It was printed on paper handmade by the publishers with the help of Shotwell Paper Mill in San Francisco. The book and appendices booklet are in a red sleeve printed in black with "The First Edition of Notorious Eelman Kirk Lombard's Me, Myself, and the Monkeyface Eel." In fine condition. Measures 6.5 x 9 inches. 52 pages in length including text, foreword, introduction, and afterword. PRI051223. Fine. More

"Tranquility," Southern MD: The Prototype Press, 2023. Hardcover. One of 28 copies. This is a handsome and inventive edition of Kipling's famous short story from The Jungle Book about a mongoose, Rikki-Tikki, who bravely battles two large cobras that threaten the family who adopted him. After a devastating flood separates Rikki-Tikki from his parents, a family finds the mongoose and nurses him back to health.  Mark Sarigianis writes: My first introduction to Kipling’s Rikki-tikki-tavi was through the Chuck Jones animated film. Although it was made before my time, a home-recorded VHS from a network rerun was in my childhood home. Even at an early age, I knew there was something serious and cared for in the art direction and style, especially when compared to the standard Saturday morning cartoons of the day. When my oldest child fell in love with the cartoon last year, printing an edition of the original story seemed like an easy choice for the press. It was not until reaching out to the Chuck Jones estate that the project took on an unusual direction for a fine press edition. The estate did a fantastic job archiving early sketches that Chuck made for the movie, and as I looked through them, I was drawn to a series focused specifically on the evolution of the titular character and his movements. This is the series that made it into the book, printed from photopolymer plates made from high resolution scans of the sketches. The artwork focuses on Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, while the book's design elements are meant to evoke the stories king cobra villains, Nag and Nagaina.  He continues to write about Chuck Jones: "In a career spanning over 70 years, American animator-director Charles Martin Jones (1912-2002), more famously known as Chuck Jones, forged a legacy during the Golden Age of Animation, creating some of the most acclaimed and brilliantly designed cartoons and films during his lifetime. He made more than 300 animated films, winning three Oscars as director and in 1996 an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Jones's animation mastery was unparalleled. His character creations, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, have possibly inspired more laughter across the globe over six generations than any other film maker."  The typeface used for the text is handset Italian Old Style, designed by Frederic Goudy. The gold-foiled typeface in various sizes is Libra, designed by Sjoerd Henrik de Roos, which was chosen to reference the use of an Uncial typeface in the movie. The pages were printed damp on custom handmade cotton paper from The Saint-Armand paper mill with a cobra watermark (which is a bit difficult to see). It is half-bound in black goat leather with green paper covers. A copy of the 1975 animated film is included on a USB drive and the book is housed in a slipcase. In fine condition. It measures 11x15 inches. 25 pages + colophon. With prospectus. The Prototype Press is operated by Mark Sarigianis and is based in Southern Maryland. It was originally founded by David Johnston in 2011 as Sharp Teeth Press in San Francisco. Mark and David rebranded as The Prototype Press in 2014 in Oakland shortly before David tragically passed away in 2015. By producing fine press books, the press aims at fulfilling its primary mission of preserving the traditions of typecasting, letterpress printing and hand bookbinding. Fine. PRI/091223. Fine. More