Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Anton Young 
<anton@m...> wrote:
> I've been asked to get a dummy book together for a book proposal. 
I'd like
> to bind it as much as possible like a published book, rather than 
some nasty
> kinko's office presentation type thing. I saw a binding machine at 
the
> Javits center photo show last year which I plan to buy later, but 
it's $450
> and I don't want to lay that out right now to just do one book. 
Does anyone
> know of a business that does perfect binding (i.e. I give them 
stack of
> loose prints and they put them in a cover). I don't need anything 
fancy,
> just 8 1/2"x11" landscape orientation, hardcover with a cloth 
covering. Any
> leads greatly appreciated.
> 
> ---
> Anton Young
> www.antonyoung.com


Hi Anton - do this a lot and have bound four or five books of my B&W 
prints so far, a nice coffee table collection!
There are a number of ways of doing this - none are really perfect.  
I am in the UK so can't really advise you on where to go, I have a 
great guy just around the corner who binds books from his garage.  I 
have done the following :

1. GUARD BOOK.  This is the correct name for a photo album type 
book.  This is where the pages are folded over by about half an inch 
at one end to enable them to be sewn for binding.  The end result is 
that the spine is twice as thick as the edge as there are twice as 
many layers of paper there due to the fold.  This doesn't really 
matter as you then stick your photos onto the blank pages, 
essentially doubling the thickness back up so that a full book is 
nice and level.  The disadvantage is that it does look like a photo 
ablum not a book.

2. POST BOUND.  This is where you take a thick ream of prints (I used 
A3 paper with the prints offset to one side)drill holes in the long 
edge and clamp the whole thing between two cover and a spine with 
brass bolts.  The bolts are hidden from view and the book is very 
solid and robust.  BUT you cannot open it out flat because the spine 
is clamped shut.  This means you are always supporting the book half 
open and can be very awkward at the start or end of the book.

3. FULLY SEWN BOUND.  This is the real mackoy - a proper bound book.  
You need double sided paper (I use Redriver 65lb double sided matt), 
you have to totally plan each page layout to make sure that when the 
pages are nested they are mated with the correct opposite page etc.  
So, four images to a sheet of A3+ paper, 2 per side, equally spaced.  
Take three of these sheets and stack them, then fold down the middle 
and sew.  25 sets of these mini booklets are then piled together and 
sewn into a spine before beind bound into a book.  The result is 
stunning but expensive and time consuming.  I have a number of 
volumes like this and it is very professional.  Only disadvantage is 
that you need quite thick paper to avoid bleed through of double 
sided images, this can lead to some tearing of the paper where it is 
sewn so you need to get clients to take care (mine books are used as 
a sort of catalogue as well as for personal appreciation!).

Good luck, if I can offer any more advice please get in touch.

Steve