Our story
Old words, made beautiful again.
Ploughman Press makes fine editions of the great books of the Catholic tradition — the saints and spiritual writers whose words have been prayed over for centuries.
Most copies of these books are an insult to them.
Rushed reprints. Scanned pages with the errors left in, cramped type, stock-photo covers. Books that end up in a drawer — never on a nightstand, and never wrapped as a gift.
The saints deserve better, and so do you. So we make them the way a fine publisher would have a century ago — read through, set by hand, illustrated with care, and bound to be kept.
The difference
A book you are proud to keep, and to give.
The same words, two very different books.
Four promises
How we make every book
Slowly, and with care — the plain, patient way.
We read every page
Each text is set from a proofread source and checked against the original printing. Errors are corrected, and we note what we changed.
We set them properly
Classic Caslon type, generous margins, and chapter openings in red, as devotional books were printed for centuries.
We illustrate them
Coloured plates drawn from the images each author uses — Thérèse’s roses, Julian’s hazelnut, the lilies of Our Lady.
We keep the faith in them
Original translators, original approbations, nothing modernised away.
Why “Ploughman”?
The plain, patient work of the ploughman: turning the soil, so that something good can grow.
That is all we hope these books will do — sit by your bed or in your bag, be opened a page at a time, and one day be passed on.
The Catholic Devotional Library
Our first three books
Questions? Write to us at hello@ploughmanpress.com — we reply within one business day.