At 5:15 p.m. yesterday (November 7, 2019), I emailed John Beck of Beck Bindery in Campbellford, Ontario

"Hi John, how are things coming with the book?"

That’s Speed Graphics and Steam 1958! vol. 2

To which John replied 30 minutes later

"It is folded, endpapered and on the sewing machine right now.  I would like to think we will finish it late next week .....I have a couple large quantity artsy books to rush through after months of delays........crazy business....feast or famine."

A couple of minutes later, I requested

"John, send some pictures if you can. I'll work together a blog article to describe the book where it is now in production."

To which John immediately replied

"Thanks for reminding me...I will take pics and video tomorrow before she finishes sewing."

That tomorrow is now today (Friday, November 8, 2019) and here are the pictures John sent

Now, I have not actually witnessed one of my books at the bindery, but from these pictures taken between 7:16 and 7:18 this morning, we’re first seeing stacks of individual press sheets that have been folded three times and then trimmed, to create a booklet of 16 pages which we call a signature.

This closeup shows the interior of the book after the twelve signatures (12 × 16 = 192 pages) have been stitched together. Endpapers have been glued on to the stitched signatures, too. Those endpapers are what will bind the interior pages of your limited-edition hardcover book to its 100 lb. board cover (a gluing operation which will happen next week).

These next two pictures show the step that occurs before the signatures are stitched together—they are collated by hand. I keep reiterating this, because it’s worth emphasizing—our books are printed and bound in here in Ontario, Canada by family-run businesses that have engaged in their trade over multiple generations.

John Beck told me that he’d taken a “a nice video of the sewing machine as well but it's a large file”. I’ll see if I can get that from him on Monday to share with you.

Now, over to Ampersand Printing for our other project

I sent the digital file to Carolyn at Ampersand Printing yesterday afternoon (Thursday, November 7, 2019). We worked through a few formatting adjustments today. That one will be ready for final proofing on Monday.

Until now, I’d revealed only the cover image of the 11.5 inches wide × 9 inches high calendar, but if you’re interested in seeing the interior pictures, take a glance at this video (I recall hearing somewhere in my youth that it was bad luck to look at individual months of a calendar beforehand... and I personally like to leave each month’s picture a surprise before getting to it... but have at it, if that kind of thing doesn’t bother you). As with the last four of my books, these pictures have all been sharpened, tone-adjusted and brought to a glistening shine by my friend Jim Brown.

An offer for you, based on the coincidental timing of our two new publications

We’d expected to be shipping the book this week (and thank you for your understanding in that regard), and the 2020 calendar in three weeks.

However, it appears that we’ll begin shipping both of these at the same time (late next week).

So, if you have ordered (or do order) one or more copies of Speed Graphics and Steam 1958! vol. 2 AND one or more copies of the calendar, we’ll waive the shipping charges on the calendar and package them together.

If that applies to you, click away at this button to order as many copies of the calendar at $24.95 CAD (plus GST if applicable) with NO shipping charge.

And, if you’ve ALREADY paid for shipping on one or more calendars AND Speed Graphics and Steam 1958! vol. 2, we’ll refund your shipping charge on the calendar by PayPal or cheque, whichever is applicable.

Until next week...

Thank you for your substantial interest in both Speed Graphics and Steam 1958! vol. 2 and our 2020 Canadian Branchline wall calendar.

Sincerely,

P.S. Please share this blog post...

By clicking on the Twitter or Facebook icon below (the Twitter one says "Tweet" and the Facebook one says shares "Share"). You'll please your followers by drawing their attention to our news!

To comment on the post, log in with the platform of your choice (via the icons for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter or Google). Then comment away!