Digital BW, The Print

My personal opinion is that silver fiber prints look better than inkjets,
all other things being equal and working from top quality negatives (in
other words, the silver print itself has a better appearance).  Having said
that, if the output is to be inkjet and publication scans, you will get a
better look by scanning the negative in hi-bit mode (16 bit). The negative
scan will give you more tonal range to work with.

dodging/burning with the history erase in high bit mode, although time
consuming, yields inkjet print and publication scans that have noticeably
improved definition in the shadow and highlight values, compared to darkroom
prints.  The ability to dodge and burn by changing midtone slider gamma on
any section of the image can produce outstanding aesthetic quality that can
only be achieved in the darkroom with masks at least, if not pin
registration masks.

Prints made in the darkroom for publication or scanning are usually a bit
soft in contrast and have almost no pure blacks or whites, whereas darkroom
prints made for exhibition usually have as much pop in them as possible.  So
a third option exists, which is making a set of prints in the darkroom for
drum scanning.  If you lack the ability to personally do high-bit dodging
and burning on a scan in the computer, this would probably give you the best
result.  Often now the scanning for coffee table books is done in Hong Kong
or elsewhere and you don't have hands-on access through the process.  By
making publication 8x10s I had excellent results in both tri-tone and
halftone books.

Probably one of the persons who is going to be most interested in this
discussion is the book designer.  Get their name and number from your
publisher, go to the library and see a few other things they have done, and
then call the book designer to come up with the best strategy.  Designers
are very individualistic, and each publisher has an existing pipeline, and
what would be best for one may be different for another.

good luck
Tom Robinson