Matt Pavelich.
Berkeley, CA & Helena, MT: Peter Koch Printers & The Territorial Press, 2015

Himself, Adrift, is a fictional account of the mysterious disappearance of the first governor of Montana Territory, Thomas Francis Meagher [born 1823]. Meagher (pronounced “Marr”) was last seen on the stern-wheel steamboat G. .A. Thompson moored in Fort Benton on the 1st of July 1867.

This disturbing work of short fiction from the pen of novelist Matt Pavelich is the inaugural publication of Last Chance Gulch Editions, a collaborative imprint of Peter Koch Printers & the Territorial Press in Helena, Montana. The images, printed letterpress from photopolymer plates are re-configured photographs from historical sources appropriated and altered by Peter Rutledge Koch with the assistance of Jonathan Gerken. Printing & sewn-board construction binding accomplished by Peter Koch, Jonathan Gerken, Aaron Parrett, and Dina Pollack at Peter Koch Printers. The typefaces are an eclectic amalgam of antique metal & digital facsimiles including Fell Historical, Copperplate Gothic, Delraye, Greco Adornado, Onyx, Gold Rush, Thunderbird Extra Condensed, etc. all from the collection of Peter Koch Printers. The text paper is Zerkal Bütten-Druckpapier imported for this edition from Germany.

The design is reminiscent of the legendary 1866 edition of Montana’s first imprint The Vigilantes of Montana or Popular Justice in the Rocky Mountains by Prof. Thos. J. Dimsdale, Montana Post Press Book and Job Printing Office, Virginia City, Montana Territory.

Book; 36 pp.    4 x 8 inches    100 copies.       $350.00