Salted Caramel Books Logotype

Some work at a glance

A single grid that changes depending on the story, and  good tool for brushing up on your Spanish.

Street smart and savvy, the ultimate guide to Mexican hand-made signs.

Make modular letterforms with grids, stencil shapes, and other goodies. Limited edition.

Identical words. Different languages: they are called cognates (in English).

Faces times five, and five envelopes, printed with letterpress.

Game board time! Invent abstract compositions and increase your focus span with this magnetic set.

Pilot

Catalog

Sideway Glances cover

Sideway glances

English book; lettering in Spanish with captions.

Interested in popular culture, Spanish language and travel? You won’t get this kind of insight from any tourist guide. The streets of Mexico abound with hand-made lettering signs, as does this booklet about writing systems, literacy and everyday life in this chaotic—yet fascinating urban environment.

$ 17.00 USD
Book cover

Candy, a Frog and a Comet / Caramelos, un sapo y un cometa

Spanish and English book

Five short stories in two languages, unusually illustrated through variations of a grid: it is up to the reader to find the images. Suggested for kids that are starting to read—plus their caregivers who’d like to practice their Spanish, and enjoy a challenge to the imagination.

$ 12.00 USD
Similar booklet cover

Similar: dual language postcard booklet

Spanish and English; letterpress numbered edition

Suggested for lovers of hand-made and artist books, who might be glad to take not of some words that they already know in Spanish—or English. Can be displayed as a broadside, viewed as an accordion book, or split into eight different postcards. Numbered edition.

$ 25.00 USD
Modular Type Elements cover

Modular Type Elements, a workbook

Introduction to typeface design and lettering through a modular approach

This unusual and part-hand-made booklet contains a brief introduction to drawing letterforms in general—with a modular approach in particular. Together with illustrations, prompts and samples, it includes an acrylic stencil with geometric shapes and adhesive stickers to build characters from the outside in. Among other surprises, the set includes an assortment of paper printed with different grids.

$ 85.00 USD
Letterpress card

Five cards, five envelopes

Set of five cards and five envelopes, letterpress

Distinct expressions and personalities have inspired the creation of five outlined countenances. Certainly not your usual thank-you cards, this humorous groups promises to be anything but boring.‍

$ 15.00 USD
Magnetic puzzle image

Focus 36, magnetic puzzle

Magnetic puzzle

Concentration can be actually relaxing. There is an endless number of abstract compositions that can come up through pairing colors on the sides of these magnetic squares. It can be played as a group or individually; keep a score or be play just as a casual distraction—although it has a reputation for hooking people up!

$ 36.00 USD
Workshop work samples

Letter into press, a workshop in collaboration with Punchress, Austin

Two day workshop in Austin, TX

Hands-on, two-days workshop, where we learn how to craft our own letterforms and transfer them to polymer plates (through a simple photographic method), for printing on a Vandercook #4 press. Our groups are small (max. six) and participants can learn and have a satisfying creative experience with like-minded people. Great for students building a portfolio, art instructors, artists looking into self-publishing, and type lovers.

$ 170.00 USD
We like letterforms

About us

The things that could (once upon a time) happen…

Salted Caramel Books is a small publishing house, with the mission of fostering the pleasure of reading and learning among people of all ages. Our small-scale editions allow for a lot of interaction with like-minded artists and professionals, and we indulge in small editions that become production adventures.
We are involved exploring languages (usually two at the same time), alphabetic characters as forms (often referred to as “letterforms”…), funky lettering, experimental printing and—necessarily!—binding, boxes and other vessels. We like games and puzzles. We get involved in workshops and collaborative projects.

Some of our collaborators

Lorena

Lorena is a Mexican-American visual designer and instructor. She enjoys making books and ceramics, along with everything that can be found inside of both.

Patrick

Patrick is in charge of giving the OK to most of our books. He likes dinosaurs and dragons and hopes to be a paleontologist when he grows up. Like the rest of our collaborators, he is a decided lover of ice cream.

Kate

Kate is our English expert. When not building sand castles on the beach with her daughter, she studies Spanish and teaches English literature. She has a secret wish to spend her days taste-testing ice cream.

Anselmo

Anselmo Guiú is a mysterious character: jealous guardian of the Spanish language, sporadic reporter, and voracious reader of everything that falls into his hands (including the coupon catalog).