Peter Rutledge Koch

A native of Montana, Peter Koch got his start in printing in Missoula when he founded Montana Gothic: A Journal of Poetry, Literature & Graphics and the Black Stone Press, a publishing imprint and letterpress printing office, in tandem with artist Shelley Hoyt, in 1974. Four years later, the press relocated to San Francisco, where Koch embarked on a one-year apprenticeship with printer and book designer Adrian Wilson at the Press in Tuscany Alley. Koch has operated his own studio continuously for 36 years. A creative force and personality in Bay Area fine press book design, printing, and publishing, Koch’s work has earned an international reputation. Since the dissolution of Black Stone Press, he has published under numerous imprints, creatively named to suit different facets of his work: Peter Rutledge Koch, Typographic Design; Peter and the Wolf Editions (with photographer Wolf von dem Bussche); Peter Koch, Printers; Hormone Derange Editions; and Editions Koch. He variously describes himself as “Artist/Collaborationist,” “Designer/Printer and Publisher,” and “Cowboy Surrealist.”