The little press that could - Westfair Communications

A selection of Christmas cards by Peter Pauper Press in Rye Brook features recycled materials and keepsake boxes. You’ll find them at Barnes & Noble stores. Photograph by Georgette Gouveia.

Here’s a story befitting the yuletide season about a young local publisher who in another century decided to create fine books and gifts that sold “at prices even a pauper could afford.”

In 1928, Peter Beilenson began making books on a small press in the basement of his parents’ Larchmont home, and the alliterative Peter Pauper Press was born.

Beilenson was later joined by his wife, Edna and soon son Nick and his wife Evelyn, who took over the company in the 1980s. Their children, John, Suzanne and Laurence, got into the act with Laurence and his wife, Esther, joining the company full-time in the 1990s.

The headquarters of Peter Pauper Press in 1948. Courtesy peterpauper.com.

Today, Laurence is president and publisher, and daughter Hannah, editor, as the multigeneraltional company continues to expand its role as a premier publisher of stationery, arts and crafts, gift items and editions of such classic American books as Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” and F. Scott Fitgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” (Once headquartered in Mount Vernon, the press is now in Rye Brook.)

We especially savor the press’ boxed sets of Christmas cards, made from a mix of woods from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), recycled materials and/or FSC-controlled wood. A bonus: Each box reproduces the design of the cards inside so it becomes a keepsake when you’re finished with your holiday greetings.

The cards are in keeping with the company’s mission — “to honor our founders’ legacy, and our customers’ expectations, of beauty, quality and value.”