Bookbinding Forum Blog

Good morning folks,

Im afraid i have yet another newbie question, i realize ive been flooding the forum with them a bit these days, but upon talking to some printers something has come up.

I believe i may have misunderstood some advice in the past as to page size and imposition. I had a problem with my document being too large to bind (too many pages) so i attempted to cut down the number of pages by increasing the page size. One of the page sizes recommended by a forum member was 11x17. I understood this to mean 11 inches wide, by 17 inches tall, for each page. However I am not entirely sure i was correct in that assumption now. My document writing software does support this page size, it calls it "tabloid" but im not sure this is good for printers, especially in a larger signature such as 4 fold.

If this an accurate size, what do i need to set my margins/page size to (im using openoffice for the manuscript)

Advice appreciated (im amenable to other size page recommendations, as long as theyre large as I really do need to cut my total page count down)

Thank you in advance

Hey all, I need some help indentfying/classifying an antique book I found. Actually, just the case. I was at a flea market today in Eugene, Oregon and found what I think may be a treasure. The overall height is about 4" by 3", and it's a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. It was published by the Little Leather Libraries Corporation, New York, but there is no date. I did a little research, and LLLC was founded in 1916 and changed their name in 1925 when they ran out of "the green volumes." At this website, http://home.earthlink.net/~littlelibrary/type-4.html, I found out that it was printed sometime between '20 and '24. They were sold in groups of30, 100, 200, individually, or even put inside Whitman Samplers to advertise the sets. They were also advertised on the back of magazines like National Geographic for mail order. From what I can tell, people are selling these book for anywhere between $3.50 and 50-90$ apiece, depending on the version and condition. This one was version IV, and is in good condition, but not excellent condition.

Here's the kicker. It's in a sterling silver filigree case with a chain. It's engraved with a script capitol E, and the marks "German Sterling" and "patent pending"




I would appreciate any thoughts people have on the case and the book. As the book was part of the first ever attempt to mass-market books in this country, it is an antique but not necessarily that rare. I think it's the case that's going to be more special here. It was proably custom made to fit the books and engraved for the person it was made for.

Thanks,
Michele

Good morning folks,

I asked a question a couple months back about getting a very large (900 11x17 size pages) document bound, I think i learned a lot then about the binding process, and after a several month hiatus, I am back and ready to continue the process.

Firstoff, im looking for a printery so i can get my document printed up on nice paper with proper imposition. I live in the Washington DC/Baltimore/Virginia area and a local one would be better, but im willing to ship out if thats not an option.

Now heres the step im a bit stuck on. I have my document in a .doc format, from working with it, ive determined that microsoft word is pretty horrible for large files and proper formatting and im assuming a printery might think the same thing.

#1) Whats the best digital format for me to have my document in in order to make the printerys job easy?

My document contains some text boxes (blocks of text surrounded by a line) and some inline pictures, this may affect what formats i have available

#2) Anyone know a good printery in the area i mentioned? It would just be a single printing, one copy of the manuscript

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks in advance folks