A Trip To The Book Factory

We're almost done making the 50 copies of The Borough of Blackwell, but what makes a book a book? At some places maybe fancy tools and lots of supplies, but not at Phone Booth Press! From a pile of paper to a book in just 9 easy steps, take a look:

The first step is to put the pages in order. The book is 64 pages (including end papers) with 4 pages per sheet. That means there are 16 8.5x11 sheets in a book. To save money we use 2 files, one is 7 sheets in black and white and is mostly text, the other is 9 pages in color. The b/w pages mostly alternate with the color pages in this order: {C, BW, C, BW}, {C, C, BW, C}, {C, BW, C, BW}, {BW, BW, C, C}. The book is organized in 4 signatures, groups of pages that are folded together, which is the next step!

The second step is to fold each signature in half along the spine, it seems hard to get it just right but it's not!

The Third step is to poke holes along the spine. For this I use a stencil page with 4 holes poked in it, that way they are in the same place on each signature which is important. A sewing pin works great for poking the holes.

The fourth step is to sew all 4 signatures together, it's hard to take a picture of this because I use both hands but this is what a whole stack look like when they're done.

The fifth step is to squeeze the book between two pieces of cardboard to hold it straight and glue the spine. While the glue dries we'll make the cover.

The sixth step is the only difference between the hardcovers and the paperbacks. On each of them we measure and trace some lines marking the spine. For the hardcovers as seen here we glue in 3 pieces of cardboard and fold the edges over. For the paperbacks we cut off the tops and bottoms of the covers (which are printed on 11x17 but get cut down to about 11.5x9) and score along the lines we traced for the spine. I use a metrocard to spread glue.

The seventh step is gluing the book guts we sewed together inside the cover and then putting the whole thing under something heavy and flat. We use a copy of The Power Broker and Lesley's 8 pound weight. Then we go eat lunch.

The eighth step is only for paperbacks! Because we only trimmed the top of the cover earlier now we cut off the floppy edges leaving about 1/8 of an inch hanging over the end of the pages.

And ta-da! It's a book. The ninth step is to go read it to someone.