Sir Patrick Spens - At Last

I reckon it takes two years from first thought of a book to finally producing it. I see from my records that I started on Sir Patrick Spens in February 2011. So longer than usual but then I had to design and create the lino cuts, 13 in all and get the cover dealt with by a calligrapher (Elizabeth Beattie).

There are two verses to every double page and an appropriate lino cut on the opposite page. The text is set in Bodoni MT. The paper is Bockingford inkjet which is 190 gsm. The thickness is such acceptable to the printer and the new printer has made a decent job of the printing. The last printer skewed thick pages which was very irritating not least because the paper is so expensive. The book is concertina - sort of  or, if you like, my take on concertina. The inside pages are folded in half and glued at the forward edges to their neighbours. Then the cover is folded - twice to allow for the thickness  of the text block, wrapped around the whole book and glued at the forward edges. It has worked which is the important bit. This is the first book. I wanted to see if would go together as I imagined. It does and I have the printed ingredients for another three books. The job for today is to print all the lino cuts. I am quite pleased with this - I get there in the end!