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Subject:Books on book production? From:"Geoff Hart" <Geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca> To:TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Thu, 16 Sep 1999 09:14:05 -0400
I missed the start of this thread, so I'm not sure who to cc this
message to. Hope you're browsing titles! I learned the basics of
book production (actually _making_ books, not designing them)
from three sources:
The _Chicago Manual of Style_, published by the University of
Chicago Press, contains several sections that give an excellent
(but shallow) overview.
The _Pocket Pal; a graphic arts production handbook_, produced
by International Paper (Memphis, Tenn.), contains a wealth of
information on the whole printing process. Everything you wanted
to know but were afraid to ask!
Best of all: the commercial printers I've worked with over the years.
I've been responsible for buying printing services and handling all
the production details for going on 12 years now, and I've been able
to actually visit the workplace of many of the printers I've worked
with. Talking to the guys who do the work for a living and seeing
how they actually do it is the best way to learn the job; I'd never be
able to actually impose, print, fold, trim, stitch, and bind a book,
but I've learned enough to know how to work with a printer and
make both our lives easier. Apart from the fact that printing plants
are just plain fascinating places to visit, everyone who produces
print documentation owes it to themselves to watch the actual
process. It may be true that "lovers of sausages and politics should
never watch either being made", but that certainly doesn't apply to
books.
--Geoff Hart @8^{)} geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca (Pointe-Claire, Quebec)
"Perhaps there is something deep and profound behind all those sevens, something just calling out for us to discover it. But I
suspect
that it is only a pernicious, Pythagorean coincidence." George Miller, "The Magical Number Seven" (1956)
