The house

A short page, because the goods are more interesting.

Who we are

A small house in Boston.

Most people want the answer. We like the looking.

It starts with one question: what makes this one worth it? Then we can’t stop. Who made it, and how. What it’s made of, and why that matters. What most people get wrong about it.

By the end we could talk about it for hours. So that’s what we carry: one good at a time, with the best of those hours written down, so you can follow us down the hole.

Their names go on every issue. Ours stay off the page.

If you’ve ever read the whole thread before buying anything, you’re in the right place.

What we ask

Of everything, before we carry it.

  1. Who made it, and would they make it the same way again?
  2. What does it do that the others don’t?
  3. What does everyone get wrong about it?
  4. What’s the detail most people never notice?
  5. Is it worth what it costs, and why?

If we can’t answer all five, we keep looking.

Where it comes from

Every issue says who made it, and where.

CTO 001
Mamuto AB
Grown by
The Mathagu familyKirinyaga, Kenya
Roasted by
George Howell CoffeeActon, Massachusetts

The rest is in the issue. Read CTO 001

After you pay

What happens, in order. No dates until they’re real.

  1. Preorders open.When the issue is dialed and its maker has said yes. The list hears first.
  2. You preorder.On the issue’s own page, which shows exactly what arrives before you pay.
  3. We pack it by hand, in Boston.One box, with the four things below in it.
  4. It ships within five business days.You get a note when it does.

What arrives

With every issue, in one box.

  1. The good.Exactly as its maker packs it. We never open it.
  2. The comic.How we found it, drawn.
  3. The card.How we use it, with the numbers we measured. Nothing else on it.
  4. The disc.The issue’s own sticker, its art inside our disc.

Packed in that order, from the bottom up.

The name

An instruction, in three words.

When a column adds up to ten, you write the 0 and carry the 1.

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 is the first sum that does it. Its answer is our name, with the 0 as the O.

You read to the end. That’s a good sign.

Each issue asks one question. Get it right and you’re on the list, which hears first when an issue opens.

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