Filed under: Book Conservation, Music, U of Iowa Ctr for the Book, YouTube | Tags: blogging, book conservation, bookbinding, jim downey, Kozo, music, Reemay, The Beatles
Just a quick follow-up to my post about the incunable legal text.
After spending most of last week cleaning up the edges of the sheets, I’ve been working on re-joining the folios. The trick with this is to make sure all the pages wind up being the same size when they’re folded and ready to be sewn — because I don’t want to trim the text block to get a clean fore-edge.
The solution is to make up a simple jig on my workbench:
Lines drawn on the benchtop, some bookboard mounted to the edge. This will help me keep everything the right size and aligned correctly.
Down the center is some Reemay polyester fabric, which will not adhere to the Kozo repair strips.
The book originally had sections of four folios (folded sheets) per section. I can tell this because of the printing conventions of the time, which had a small counter at the bottom of each page indicating where it went in the book. Very handy. For my work, I only need to rejoin the innermost pair of sheets from each section — then the other sheets will be attached to that new center folio. This will keep everything positioned correctly, and make for a strong sewing structure.
Here’s a pic showing the positioning of a pair of sheets:
Notice the gap in the center.
And here’s one with a shot of the Kozo repair strip applied. It’s a heavyweight Kozo (Japanese ‘mulberry’ paper), with a strong wheatpaste applied. Makes a great repair, but is completely reversible with a little water if anyone needs to re-do my repairs later. See:
The next step is to iron the strip down with a small tacking iron on moderate heat. This is done with another layer of Reemay between the iron and the Kozo. This gives a clean, flat edge to mount the other sheets.
Which will be my next step.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, humor, jim downey, Kickstarter, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction
A couple weeks ago, I wrote this:
If I wanted to, I could actually bind the book so as to read ‘backwards’ like a Hebrew Bible, though the page numbers are all in the wrong location for that.
I must admit, I’m tempted, just for giggles.
And as I posted yesterday, I gave in to the temptation. Yup, I made a ‘backwards book’, one which has the spine on the right side, and in which you turn the pages from left to right. And I’m going to make a few more.
Why? Well, for the fun of it, mostly. But also because when things like this happen, I’ve learned to roll with it. It’s like a little surprise, something special the universe gives you — serendipitous art.
And for some people, such things are quite collectible. Think of philately or numismatics, where errors of one sort or another make for highly-valued stamps and coins.
Errors are part of the handmade process. In this case, the error wasn’t mine, but came from the printer. Whoever set up the print run managed to load the pages backwards, and in the process opened an unexpected door.
Now, this isn’t something that appeals to a lot of people. So I’m only going to make 15 of these books — thirteen ‘lettered’ copies (A – M), and two artist’s/author’s proofs, all covered in book cloth as shown. Those who have opted to get one of the “archive” sets will have it included in the set at no additional charge as long as the copies last. Others may opt to buy a single copy for $150.00. But there are only 13 copies, and of those four are already reserved. Meaning that there are only nine remaining, and are first-come, first served.
So, there ya go.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What follows is a little photo-essay showing the process by which I bound the first book (and will bind the rest). This will also be the same process for binding the ‘normal’ hardcover cloth edition.
Sheets gathered into sections, then folded.
Sections punched for sewing.
Starting the sewing onto linen tapes.
Sewing complete.
Text block trimmed, ready for adhesive & spine liners.
Gluing up the text block.
Checking fit of the boards.
Making the cloth-bound case (hardcover).
Case done, checking fit with text block.
Cover sheet next to case.
Me cutting the cover sheet to size.
Cutting the cover sheet – this is how it would normally be laid out for a conventional book.
Re-arranging the cover for this ‘backwards’ book.
Cover completed.
It’s a backwards book!
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Science Fiction
Remember how I said that I was “Tempted”?
Well, have a sneak peek at what I just finished:
It’s a backwards book!
I’ll have a full post, along with a lot of images of making the book, up later today or tomorrow.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Book Conservation
I’m angry.
No, it has nothing to do with the last time I said “Grrr.” The sheets for the limited edition of Communion of Dreams are fine. And besides, then I was just annoyed. It’s pretty rare for me to actually get angry.
Even more rare when it has to do with my business.
But I got started this afternoon on some conservation work for a institutional client. I have half a dozen items from them this time, and thought I’d start with the oldest: a 1471 legal text.
For those who aren’t history buffs, let me give you an idea of how rare a printed book this old is: it was printed just 17 years after the Gutenberg Bible, the very first book printed using movable type. Such books are so rare there’s a special name for them: Incunabla.
And some idiot in the last half century did a machine rebinding of this book. Meaning that they just stuck it in a guillotine and lopped off the spine, then had a machine stab through the loose sheets and do a simple basket sewing, along with a layer of hot glue.
I’d really like to get my hands on this asshole…
Er, sorry. Like I said, I’m angry.
There was *no* reason to do such an unspeakable thing to such a book. The paper is in marvelous condition (as is usually the case with books so old) — it’s still strong and supple, without a trace of acid degradation or embrittlement.
So, I cut the thing apart, removed the bulk of the hot glue. After I dress the edge of the paper, I’ll guard the sheets back together into sections, using kozo tissue paper and wheatpaste. Then I’ll be able to resew the book like it was meant to be, then rebind it properly.
Here are some pix:
As it came to me. Note the 1960s-era spine added to a 1880-era cover.
“Title pages” hadn’t become standardized yet, this is the first page of text.
Shot of the spine, once the text block had been cut away from the covers.
First layer of gunk removed, the over-sewing threads cut.
Pulling apart the sheets after most of the hot glue has been removed. Note the perforation holes along the spine edge where the book was stab-sewn.
Pile of loose sheets after the entire book has been taken apart. Painful to see it this way, but it will soon be much better.
Grrr.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Book Conservation, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction
First and foremost, allow me to extend best wishes to one and all for a great Thanksgiving (if you’re here in the US. Otherwise, have a great Thursday just ’cause.)
For long-time readers, you know the many twists & turns in my life over the last 5+ years, particularly those related to the ostensible reason this blog was started: to document and explore the process of getting Communion of Dreams published. And I want to tell you, and all the others who have joined us along this trek: thank-you for sticking with me. Communion of Dreams was downloaded something like 35,000 times in the earlier .pdf incarnation, and has been downloaded or purchased in paperback about 20,000 times this year in the current version. And I am grateful to everyone who contributed to make that a reality.
Last week I documented the latest amusing bit of the saga, how we wound up with printed sheets for a “backwards” book, which should have been the sheets for the limited edition handbound hardcover version.
Well, yesterday we got the corrected sheets. Here’s a shot:
Yay!
From initial checking, everything looks good to do the limited edition. And I want to mention that the printer did everything I could reasonably ask or expect to make right the initial mistake — which shouldn’t be unusual, but is all too often these days. So, thanks to the folks at PrintLynx for not only correcting the error, but doing so quickly and with zero hassle. I’ve used them for a decade or longer, and have every reason to continue to use them for the foreseeable future.
I have another big conservation job to focus on in the short term, but soon I hope to have some initial samples of what the handbound hardcover edition of Communion of Dreams will look like. And as for being ‘tempted‘, well, let’s just say that soon I also hope to have an interesting announcement to make. When life gives you lemons …
But for now, I want to again wish you and yours a great Thanksgiving. And to say that I am thankful for all my friends and fans, who have conspired to make this a wonderful year.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Failure, Humor, Publishing, Science Fiction, tech | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, humor, jim downey, Science Fiction, technology
So, last night I posted about the fiasco with the print job for the special edition of Communion of Dreams. I thought this morning I would explain just exactly what the problem is.
Typically, inexpensive paperbacks are made using a process called “perfect binding” where the stack of individual pages are glued up along the spine and a cover is slapped on. The cover at the spine provides a backing to the adhesive used. It’s a process which can be completely mechanized, and is fast & cheap, providing decent value for the money. It’s how the paperback copies of Communion of Dreams are printed.
However, more expensive machine hardcover books, and most varieties of hand-bound books, are done using sheets which are folded and sewn. A folded sheet is called a folio, and a gathering of such folded sheets is called a signature (or section, or quire). How many folios are in a signature varies greatly, from single sheets up to about a dozen, depending on the thickness of the paper and how the book is designed. To make the book ‘work’ properly, the book designer has to make sure that the individual pages are laid out such that when the signatures are gathered together the sequence of pages is correct.
Chances are, most of the physical books you’ve read conform to what we in the West think of as ‘normal’: they have the spine of the book on the left side, pages are numbered with odd numbers on the right and even numbers on the left. To read the book, you turn pages from right to left.
But if you think about this for a moment, it is not the only way a book could be arranged. You could have the spine at the top, for example, and have the ‘book’ work like a typical calendar, turning the pages from bottom to top.
Or you could have the spine on the right side. This orientation would then have you turn pages from left to right. This, in fact, is how traditional Hebrew Bible books are printed, and the same convention is used with Japanese books.
And it’s the way they printed Communion of Dreams, which we discovered when we started looking at the sheets last night.
Here’s an image of the center folio of the proof they sent us:
Correct.
And here’s an image of the same center folio from the sheets we picked up yesterday:
Incorrect.
Note that even the page numbers are now in the wrong locations, being in the center rather than the outside of the pages. The entire book — the entire print run — is done this way. If I wanted to, I could actually bind the book so as to read ‘backwards’ like a Hebrew Bible, though the page numbers are all in the wrong location for that.
I must admit, I’m tempted, just for giggles.
But we’ll get things sorted out with the printer, and get the proper printing done.
Edited to add on Friday afternoon: Yeah, so I think after the printer saw this blog post, and went back over their own records, they realized where & how they had screwed up. They’re now going to reprint the whole order.
Which is what they should do, but it is nice to have a business who is willing to make good without much of a fuss. I can only compliment them on their business practices, and will be happy to use them again in the future.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Failure, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Science Fiction
Well, *that’s* annoying.
Printer called, said that the job was done and we could pick it up, a bit earlier than we expected. So we decided to pop over to Sedalia (about 75 miles) to get it. First, there was an error on the bill, which took them a while to sort out. We did a quick check of the print run, saw that the paper was correct, the grain running the right way. Then, when we got home we discovered that they managed to screw up the pagination – even though it was correct on the proofs they sent us. So I now have $904.70 worth of scrap paper sitting in the bindery.
We’ll get it sorted out in the morning when they re-open. But it’s damned annoying.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Comics, Connections, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, promotion, Science Fiction, writing
Wow — this hits close to home: Making Things.
We should pick up the printed sheets for the special edition of Communion of Dreams tomorrow. I’ll post pix!
Now, back to work for me.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Publishing, tech, U of Iowa Ctr for the Book | Tags: art, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey
Typically, there are many ways to accomplish a given task. Usually, some are better than others. Maybe they’re more efficient. Or less expensive. Or just work better.
And usually it seems like I always manage to find all the worst ways before finally stumbling on one of the better ones.
* * * * * * *
* * * * * * *
We got the proofs back from the printer! Here’s some pix:
Cover sheet.
Text pages.
* * * * * * *
grain [grān]
(materials)
- The appearance and texture of wood due to the arrangement of constituent fibers.
- The woodlike appearance or texture of a rock, metal, or other material.
- The direction in which most fibers lie in a sample of paper, which corresponds with the way the paper was made on the manufacturing machine.
* * * * * * *
Typically, there are many ways to accomplish a given task. Usually, some are better than others. Maybe they’re more efficient. Or less expensive. Or just work better.
And usually it seems like I always manage to find all the worst ways before finally stumbling on one of the better ones.
But fortunately, I was taught early on at the University of Iowa Center for the Book about the “grain” of paper, and how it makes a crucial difference in how a book works. This was something which actually took papermakers and printers a while to figure out, back when new mechanized papermaking techniques were developed. That’s because typical western hand-papermaking didn’t really impart much of a ‘grain’ to paper used in printing presses for the first several centuries.
But back in the middle of the 19th century papermaking was mechanized, and this left a distinct alignment of the paper fibers. And that changes how this paper behaves. Simply put, you have to make sure that the grain is aligned with the spine of the book, or the paper doesn’t drape or move properly, leading to the book being mechanically ‘unfriendly’ to the hand. Most printers these days know about this and pay attention to it, but every once in a while someone will try and cut corners and use paper stock with the wrong grain orientation, and the consumer will wind up with a book which feels very stiff and hard to open/turn the page. As a bookbinder, this is something I *very* much have to pay attention to for small edition binding, and I always caution clients about it, since most normal people don’t have any idea that paper grain matters at all.
So the first thing I noticed when I took the proof sheets out of the box was that the grain ran the wrong way.
Oops.
Turns out it was just a small miscommunication with the printer, and they’ll make sure to have the actual printed sheets for the book with the grain running the right way. My Good Lady Wife just talked with them, confirming that and giving final approval for the print run. The sheets should be ready for us to pick up the end of next week. Exciting!
Jim Downey
PS: Just a note – the usual convention with paper is to mark it “grain long” or “grain short” on the wrapping for a ream. Sometimes this is also indicated by underlining one of the numbers in the dimensions.
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Book Conservation, Connections, Feedback, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Kickstarter, literature, Paypal, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, writing
OK, the site updates are now live — you can now order a limited edition copy of Communion of Dreams, and place your advance order to reserve a limited edition copy of St. Cybi’s Well.
I’d like to make several notes about these pages …
First is that currently the images of the different bindings are just representative, to give you some idea of what the types of cover materials look like. We’ll soon be ordering the special print run of Communion of Dreams, and once those pages are done and back to me, I’ll make up some actual copies of the books to show what the finished products will actually look like.
Second is that these edition numbers are “hard”: once all the books are claimed, that’s it — there will be no more. The edition for Communion of Dreams is just 53 copies (plus two Author’s/Artist’s Proof copies). 8 of the copies have already been reserved. The edition for St. Cybi’s Well is just 101 copies (plus two Author’s/Artist’s Proof copies). 11 of those copies have already been reserved.
Lastly, because of logistics using Paypal, there are some limitations in how we set up payments. Downpayments can be taken directly through Paypal for each selection, but you can also just email me to arrange different amounts or payments on account. If you want to send a personal check to order a copy of either limited edition (or both of them), that’s perfectly fine. For help with any of this, just contact me via email: jim@communionofdreams.com
As I’ve noted before, I’m really jazzed about writing St. Cybi’s Well. But even beyond that, I’m excited about combining two of my creative skills: my writing and my bookbinding. Being an accomplished craftsman and artist doesn’t usually blend with also being a writer. This is probably the single best thing to come out of the Kickstarter project for me: thinking in these terms.
Thanks, everyone!
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 