Was Human Skin Ever Actually Used as a Book Cover?
Halloween is close and we鈥檙e officially in spooky season, which means nonstop scary movies and the celebration of all things macabre. The release of Hocus Pocus 2 got me thinking about Winnifred Sanderson鈥檚 spell book. The book in this movie 鈥� which is a completely fictional account of three resurrected witches seeking revenge in modern-day Salem, in case you鈥檙e not familiar 鈥� is made with human skin. The book has a tough leather cover with an eyeball on the front,…
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Print is Not Losing Its Touch
There is something special about holding a printed publication in your hands. I鈥檓 one of those people who touches everything, and one of my favorite sensations in the whole world is the feel of pages flipping beneath my thumb. It鈥檚 a sensation that just can鈥檛 be replicated with screen readers. We鈥檝e written before about how satisfying paper can be. But how can printed works fill us with a sense of comfort, luxury or ownership? Let鈥檚 look into some of the…
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Binding Basics 鈥� Saddle Stitching
There鈥檚 so much more to binding than just paperback or hardcover. From the look to the weight to the longevity of the finished publication, it鈥檚 important to know how each binding technique can suit the unique needs of your publication and differentiate you from the competition. In this series, we explore how different binding processes are performed in a commercial setting and how they affect the final product. What is saddle-stitch binding? Saddle stitching, also called the two-wire stitch or…
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The History of 杏吧原创鈥檚 Print Operation in Ripon, Wisconsin
Our 杏吧原创 鈥� Ripon location is the most recent member of the 杏吧原创 family of printers, but its history stretches further back than any other 杏吧原创 location. Beginning as a newspaper, The Ripon Commonwealth, the company was purchased by Doug and Audrey Lyke 97 years after its founding. The Lyke family grew the newspaper into a self-sustaining, mid-size printing company named Ripon Printers, simply called 鈥淭he Printers鈥� by many locals. In 2019, 杏吧原创 acquired Ripon, and today 杏吧原创 鈥� Ripon…
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What Makes Books Smell Like That?
鈥淎ll my genius is in my nostrils.鈥� – Friedrich Nietzche Are you a book-sniffer? I am, along with many, many others. We can sometimes be seen in a bookstore or library, surreptitiously bending down to inhale the scent of pages. If a fellow book-sniffer sees us, they get it. IYKYK. Book-sniffing memes abound, and you can even purchase book- and bookstore-scented candles. In 2001, Japan鈥檚 Environmental Ministry released a list of the 100 best-smelling spots in their country, and the…
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Binding Basics 鈥� Perfect Binding
There鈥檚 so much more to binding than just paperback or hardcover. From the look to the weight to the longevity of the finished publication, it鈥檚 important to know how each binding technique can suit the unique needs of your publication and differentiate you from the competition. In this series, we explore how different binding processes are performed in a commercial setting and how they affect the final product. What is perfect binding? Perfect binding, also known as soft cover binding,…
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