Short run books

dmw000
3.Sep.2008 5.45am
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hey there, I was just wondering if anyone here on these boards knows of high quality printers for short run books in the new york city area. It’s photographers book with a run of about 100-250 books and is more image based. Attention to detail would be pretty important.

thanks a lot in advance if you have any info!



evilfansanfran
3.Sep.2008 2.55pm
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I’D LIKE TO KNOW TOO!

Something cheaper than http://www.blurb.com/


dmw000
4.Sep.2008 5.18am
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I guess i should open this up to not even short run but any good book printers in new york.

thanks again.


charles_e
4.Sep.2008 5.41am
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Is Rhode Island close enough? Extremely fine book printer of photographic images is Meridian Printing, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. http://www.meridianprinting.com/
My wife also suggests that you simply make “portfolio” editions by printing the text conventionally; make 100 to 200 photographic prints of the images; and then hand-affix the images onto the book pages. Something like the old method of spot-gluing plates in letterpress days.
The resulting albums could be very valuable.


dmw000
4.Sep.2008 6.03am
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great thanks a lot! Rhode island can definitely work.


will powers
4.Sep.2008 7.41am
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When you say “short-run,” are you thinking about offset or digital printing?

If you are printing only 250 books, an offset shop such as Meridian is going to be very spendy. But charles_e is right: they are very good.

Since you are not getting any responses about short-run printers in NYC, check out BookMobile.
http://www.bookmobile.com/
Mostly they do paperback books on uncoated stock. But they also do very good photo work on coated stock, and they can bind your book in boards. Their high-end color & b/w work is getting very close to “offset-quality” when they are given good files to work with.

& they will send you a set of proofs before they run the whole edition.

powers


charles_e
4.Sep.2008 8.30am
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Hi Will,

Not to disagree terribly, but “approaching offset” is a loaded term. I’ve seen some pretty poor offset printing (including images).

The only way to get it right, regardless of the paper, is to prepare a profile for a printer — taking into account the *characteristics* of both the paper used & the press (includes ink). Then ignore all that dribble the printer sends out about chopping off the last 10 percent of the black & white. The profile handles dot gain; done right, you only loose about 1/2 of one percent with the black. White loss depends on the boundary colors (tones) of the image & whether or not you want to allow them to fade into the paper.

I suppose I’m biased, but it became apparent to me long ago that the old dicta “price, quality, speed — pick two” is wrong. It is really “pick one.”


gohebrew
4.Sep.2008 9.24am
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call aaron mendelsohn 7184671957 or mp770@aol.com

he’s a printer broker - contracts with many many types of printers in ny and nj.

super competitive prices. excellent service. delivers.


will powers
4.Sep.2008 10.23am
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You are right, Charles, on the points you make in all 3 paras. I’m simply trying to get Otto in touch with a good printer, if digital is the way he wants to go. It is up to Otto to work out all these things with the printer he chooses. That’s one reason I noted that BookMobile provides proofs. Often enough, short-run printers say “give us the files; we’ll send you your done job.” Not good enough.

Otto: wherever you print this, keep in mind Charles’s points.

powers


dmw000
9.Sep.2008 3.51pm
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Thank you for all the info. This forum is a great help.