This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection.
Poltroon Press put out the volume Pshaw! 1975-2005 : 30 Years of Poltroonery to “celebrate thirty years of existence.” Poltroon is a small press from Berkely, California that is still printing today. The volume includes some of their most memorable ephemera reproductions along with brief explanations of their history and usage. Here are a few of my favorites. 
The Canine Wine label was born on a night when one of the authors was drinking terrible wine with their friend Nancy who exclaimed “This wine is not fit for dogs!” Thus the concept of Wine for Dogs was born and they printed up a few wine labels including the Weimaraner Rhine Whine pictured.
Mädchen in Uniform was printed by the press in 1976 with 50 original copies. It features a poem by Bernard de Ventadorn and a paper doll of a woman with various military outfits, including a pink purse. Bernard was a master troubadour from the Middle Ages, his poem is reproduced with a translation which reads,
she’ll do badly if she
dont summon me to
where she undresses,
there at her command
near the bed, or at the
edge, I may remove
her well-fitted shoes,
on my knees & hum-
bled, if it shld please
her to offer me a foot.
There is also a beautiful visual representation of Miss Flite’s birds from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. For those unfamiliar with the tale Miss Flite kept a collection of caged birds which she planned to release when a judgement from the Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit was reached. One of the many ironies is that the lawsuit goes on for so long the birds keep dying and need to be replaced. It is a common interpretation that the caged birds represent the people who have been trapped by the lawsuit and their names represent the many ideas and ideals associated with it like Joy, Hope, Madness, Cunning, Folly, and Ashes.
To explore more of the amazing reproductions of the original ephemera and learn about the Poltroon Press you can find this volume in Houghton Library.
Pshaw : Poltroon Press, 1975-2005. [Berkeley, Calif. :Poltroon Press,2006]. Z232.P795P74 2006.
Thanks to Alison Harris, Santo Domingo Project Manager and Ryan Wheeler, Rare Book Cataloger, for contributing this post.