Notes On The Making Of Books In The 21st Century by Michael Keller "First of all, the printed sheet must be folded." In R. R. Bowker's 1887 overview of the book publishing trades, he begins part VII (post-printing procedures) with this sentence, and without much prior explanation. It speaks directly to the general understanding of what a *book* represented as a physical structure in the 19th century. For centuries the norm of text printing has been 'bi-foliate', meaning the juxtaposition of multiple pages on a single sheet of paper, whether it be a chapbook or elephant folio, pamphlet or newspaper. This, of necessity, required the sheet to be folded before being attached to others like it, to form a whole. In the 20th century the printed page began to appear on single leaves which resulted in a pile of separate pieces of paper which had to be attached to one another somehow. The commonest method was to just use adhesive on the spine side. While dramatically reducing production costs over the traditional method of "sewing through the fold", the greatest drawback was structural durability. Trying not to belabour the obvious when a traditional sewn book is opened, the only real stress on the structure is the flexing of paper fibers along the fold of each sheet; something that reasonably good quality paper can do many, many times without significant wear. This has the added advantage of permitting the book to more or less lie flat without injury from direct structural stress. Now I apologize for the very basic nature of this preamble as most everyone with any interest and experience in book related fields would know the above, at least on some instinctive level. The problem is that the average person has no appreciation whatever of the basics of book construction, and this has made for a situation undreamed of in 1887. With the fast spread of adhesive bindings in mid-century, I hold that a number of rather negative social changes happened to the general concept of the *book*. A large part of the problem, I believe, was a short-coming in modern English usage. The every-day language simply did not accommodate such an important change in one of culture's essential icons. At the very least, this new innovation in the publishing industry should have been given a new word or descriptive qualifier all its own. The early term "paperback" proved not only inadequate but misleading, as the presence or absence of a hard-cover has nothing whatever to do with how the text block is structured. The only other term I know of which was in general use is the bizarre "perfect bound". Something so ludicrous as to beggar ridicule. The publishing industry seems to have allowed this situation to evolve in order to pass off a fundamentally inferior product on an unsuspecting book buying public. Obviously they had no intention of educating with more accurate consumer information and advertising language. So how might one correct this linguistic flaw? I suggest some descriptive qualifying words such as "tablet-book", pad-book, or even the obvious "glued- book". Any of these would make for much more truthfulness in book-trade advertising. OK, so why all the fuss ? After all, "let the (book) buyer beware". Someone pays a rather hefty price for a large, sumptuously illustrated 'coffee-table *book*', only to have it start to disintegrate 5, 10, or 15 years after purchase. Or one finally completes that family history, representing many months work, pays rather a lot of money to have the text made into a dozen copies of a *book*, and long before one would expect to be passing the copies on to the next generation, there are only piles of loose pages left. This loss of *book* longevity has led, I would argue, to an inevitable social denigration in the popular concept of the book. Most seem to agree that in the mind of the average citizen of the western world in the 19th century, the *idea* of the book had a much higher status in the overall scheme of things. Again, that may sound obvious to you, but I think it worthy of further comment. Lets use the term "transgenerational" to focus attention on that traditional aspect peculiar to books. Historically speaking, to author a book carried with it the promise of fame and a sort of limited yet substantial immortality. To collect books carried with it the premise that one was a link in a chain far bigger than the individual. Today not so much. I suggest the average modern reader thinks only in terms of a decade or two at most, when considering the physical book. Certainly nothing approaching a physical thing capable of spanning generations. There must also be an inevitable diminishment of esteem, through association, towards the content of books if the packaging is so marginalized and temporary. Yet it remains a mystery to me why most book readers don't seem to care all that much about this state of affairs. And what these social subtleties ultimately mean are deep waters not within the scope of these 'notes'. The often spirited discussions of a decade ago (and still going on) over whether the book is threatened by digital text has always been a non-starter to me. If a book is used for reading *pleasure*, it simply has no competition. It has evolved into something which accommodates the human body too well to ever be threatened by light-emitting-diodes in any form. On the other hand, digital text has the huge advantage in the storage, retrieval and manipulation of *information*. These are two very different things. In other words, I can see a day when public libraries limit their book buying to fiction, while non-fiction would be almost exclusively digital. Yes, that may be somewhat of an oversimplification. Having, I hope, explained the importance I put on the concept and survival of 'real' books; we come now to the actual point of this article. I have always wanted to make books. To be responsible for new books which did not exist before. Why this is so, I have no clue. Its just been a deeply felt need. Given my strong prejudice towards anything short of the traditional book, this predilection would normally have led to a printing press, type, ink, and at least the basic skills to use them properly. Such a serious commitment of time and resources never was practical to my situation however, so with a few minor exceptions over the years, making books was a dream for some future day. Enter the computer age. I was a relatively late comer to it all; initially limited by a lack of any formal education in the field, though I eventually became the worst kind of geek, the Self-Made Geek - by reading every 'Help file' I could find. Lack of substantial disposable income was also pretty limiting. My computing resources were always free or used and 'out-of-date' (though I would argue that 'out-of-date' is a highly over-rated phrase in this context). As I started thinking about the application of software and hardware towards the making of books, it was obvious that there was no 'quick 'n easy' program for the creation of quality books which could then be rendered into bi- foliate format (signatures); at least nothing available to me. By *quality* I am referring to academic enhancements (indexing, etc.) and aesthetics with the hundreds of visual niceties, each with it's myriad of variables, developed over the centuries by, and available to the traditional printing craft. To explain the next step in this progression requires a 'plug' for a specific commercial product, my only endorsement, and I have no connection with the company whatsoever. WordPerfect 5.1 was for years one of the most sophisticated text editors with many 'bells and whistles'. The first choice of academics with PCs. Its biggest limitation from my perspective was the very small number of fonts available. WordPerfect 6 resolved that and suddenly the huge world of TrueType fonts became accessible. WP6 also had the advantage of a new graphic interface, making the inclusion and manipulation of graphics within the text a practicality. Finally, what made the finished work translatable into printed signatures is a WP printing option called 'print as booklet'. Once the entire work is *put to bed* as a single large file, I then break it up into smaller files relating to whatever size (number of folded sheets times 4 = number of pages) signature I choose. About this time I had also graduated to a second-hand PentiumI with Windows 95. Finally I felt I was ready for my first book. Not knowing any better, I decided that my first effort should be the most difficult printing challenge I could think of. If I could resolve the really tough stuff, anything else would be possible. I have always admired the writings of Thomas Paine (American Revolution pamphleteer), in particular his "Common Sense". So I posed the premise: what if there were a 'Gentleman Printer' active in the American Colonies when the first rough copies of "Common Sense" were being distributed, and recognizing the importance of the thing, decided to produce the best rendering he could, given the limitations of his day. Such was my goal. First problem was an appropriate 18th century font with ligatures (combined letter types), long S's, etc. Fortunately a man named Lee had recently produced just such a font and made it freely available on-line, along with a text conversion utility. Problem solved. The rest was long and all about the learning curve; but in the end I had an authentic looking book I could be proud of, and a lot of new found self-confidence. That is not to say there were no problems and frustrations. Most were memory-related (more the computer's than mine) given the underpowered hardware and the relatively large size of the main file. This resolved itself finally with my current 6 year old Pentium IV, and WordPerfect 11 with its superior memory management and even more 'bells and whistles'. Since then I have done a few private commissions for people who appreciate the traditional and *permanent* book structure and want to see their work in nothing less, in spite of the considerable expense. While always satisfying in the end, these commercial projects were less so than the satisfaction of producing my very own productions, where I make all of the aesthetic and editorial decisions. So a few years ago I started looking for potential sources of 'new' material; text which, to the best of my knowledge, had never been seen in book form. The topics of course would always be of some personal interest to myself, and hopefully to others. My tastes generally tend to the antiquarian and I have collected odd, bound volumes of Victorian-era periodicals throughout most of my adult life. I find the content for the most part fascinating on many levels and largely unknown today the reprinting of the text into any format being a very rare occurrence. The need for a digital source of these texts was met by the far-sighted and very worthy 'Gutenberg' and 'The Making of America' Projects; both freely accessible to anyone from the Internet. I should also mention that I have been collecting all manner of digital fonts and printers' devices (vignettes, head/tailpieces, dingbats, etc.) since the beginning. With patience, there is an enormous amount of free material available on-line to anyone who cares to seek it out. The first Victorian-era project was G. Pomeroy Keese's "A Glass Of Beer" (Harper's Monthly, 1885) [see Bibliography]. An overview of the American beer industry to date, and generally I think, a fun and informative read to anyone interested in such things. This was later expanded to create a 'miscellany' of sorts, with the addition of two other mid-19th century pieces regarding the beer culture of Munich. The miscellany idea of grouping two or three feature articles together is now my usual form. [see Bibliography] I think it is worth mentioning one other important aspect of this sort of book- making before closing. Since each copy is printed (on a very common standard-issue inkjet printer) and bound by hand individually, the content is never really finished, that is, set in stone. It is usual for me to tweak, add or correct minor elements between copies, thus making each copy technically its own 'edition' of one the ultimate in limited editions. Even without any changes, all of my books contain a colophon with the exact date of printing along with a provenantial statement as to whom the book was specifically made for. All of this being a rather new concept in bookmaking, there seems to be no established nomenclature to adequately describe the thing. After much thought, the best I can come up with is a "Unique Copy" book. Use of the word 'edition' or even 'publish' would be, I believe, misleading without a qualifier. I would welcome any ideas on the topic. And that brings me to some final thoughts on what this bookmaking method is NOT, and why confusion in wording should be avoided. This is NOT "desk-top publishing". This term has come to mean work printed with a computer / printer (usually double- sided) as single leaves, one page after another, thereby making it appropriate for adhesive binding, ring binders, spiral bound, etc. Nothing at all wrong with that assuming the inherent limitations are appreciated by the maker. Its just not the same as bi-foliate printing-binding. And as already discussed, I would even argue against the unqualified use of the term *book* applied to those finished products. Nor is my work 'Fine Press' or 'Fine Printing'. Yes, it is real ink (well actually a dye) on real paper, and the term 'Private Press' is accurate enough I think. But 'Fine Press' has always meant only one thing real printers using real type in real presses. When executed with skill and taste, the product has always been, and will always be the ultimate in printed word beauty. Most importantly, my printed page lacks the sensual 3 dimensional feel of real print-work impressed into thick, dampened paper. The best I strive for is a 2 dimensional approximation. Also is the limitation of finished dimensions. While I can, and do, fool around with 16pp. chapbooks, and use 8 « X 14" stock for printed wraps, the usual book size is dictated by the folded 8« X 11" (landscape) standard. After all else is said, this is the best possible hobby for someone like myself. Potential is limitless. And in keeping with the *self-made* mind-set, I believe: "if I can do it, anyone with enough motivation and patience can do it". Lack of resources should no longer be a fatally limiting factor; at least not in the western world with our great surplus of second-hand, and the mind-numbing assets available to all on the Internet. So as I write this in 2009, I wonder what Mssr. Bowker, Evans, Morris and the founders of the Typophiles and Grolier Club would think of it all. For the most part, they made books, and obviously they all cared deeply about the subject. I know I flatter myself with the thought that they would share my concern at the modern confusion in terms and loss in popular status of the traditional book. As to what they might make of the idea of an individual living in rural Canada, largely isolated, essentially self-taught, without press or anything else they would recognize; yet having access to millions of pages of copyright-free text, hundreds of fonts and every known printers' bling... and making his own books... ...Signs and wonders. Michael Keller 2009 Bibliography of the Buckram Grove Press 04/09 [binding formats include: (trimmed foredge always optional) hand-sewn, in printed paper wraps; hand-sewn onto cloth tapes, backed with cloth, case bound with 1/4 muslin spine and printed boards (or plain art paper covered boards), paper spine label; hand-sewn onto cloth tapes, backed with cloth, « leather with paste or marbled paper.] Common Sense by Thomas Paine from the Bradford 1791 ed. [104pp / 6 signatures] 5 illus. added; with new index. A Glass of Beer by G. Pomeroy Keese; from Harper's New Monthly, 1885. [90pp / 5 signatures] 17 illus. orig. and added; with new index. The Grolier Club. by Brander Matthews; from The Century Illustrated, 1889. [88pp / 5 signatures] 19 illus. orig. and added; with new index. A Miscellany of 19th Cent. American Base-Ball. Base-Ball for the Spectator by W. Camp from The Century Magazine 1889. Our National Game by William R. Hooper from Appletons' Journal 1871. Popular Amusements: Chapt. V. Base-Ball by Rev. J.T. Crane 1869. [104pp / 5 signatures] 17 illus. orig. and added; with combined index. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by H. D. Thoreau [60pp / 3 signatures] 3 illus. added. Dr. Beers Introduces Canada. Sports In Canada August, 1877 Pictures from Canada September, 1871 by Dr. William George Beers from Scribner's Monthly [180pp / 9 signatures] 41 illus. orig. and added. with combined index. Brander Matthews on Books & Related Matters The Grolier Club. 1889 Commercial Bookbinding. 1894 Books In Paper Covers. 1895 from The Century Magazine. [180pp / 9 signatures] 42 illus. orig. and added. with combined index. A Glass of Beer (A miscellany) A Glass of Beer by G. Pomeroy Keese from : Harper's New Monthly, 1885 Head-Quarters of Beer-Drinking by Andrew Ten Broeck from : The Atlantic Monthly - 1864 B E E R by S. G. Young from : The Galaxy - 1877 [180pp / 9 signatures] 32 illus. orig. and added. with combined index. A Printed Book. by R. R. Bowker. from : Harper's New Monthly, 1887. [apx. 140pp. / 9 signatures] 20 illus. orig. and added. with new index (to which is added : "Notes on the making of books in the 21st Century". by Michael Keller)