À propos ‘the way books are put together’, the Hanuman Editions book shown here seems to exhibit the common failing of any book now made in the UK: the difficulty of opening it up and letting it lie flat without the help of fingers and thumbs. The secret here is in the glue that holds together the pages or sections of pages. Up until around 1970 the glue used was almost always water-based; since then polymer adhesives have become normal in the UK printing industry, and elsewhere in the world. Water-based adhesives – familiar as the PVA adhesives used in joinery – are strong and supple and might take 24 hours to dry; the polymer/plastic adhesives are by comparison less supple but are very quick to dry. For reasons of time and therefore money, the old glues were displaced by the new plastic alternatives. The change of technics has had its effects on the design of pages: inside margins will have to be wider, to accommodate the difficulty in opening the book. So these thumb nails may look nice, but it would have been better if the digits they belong to hadn’t been needed.
Fascinating. I haven't looked into the glue they use, or what sort of margins they have, but Persephone Press pride themselves in producing paperbacks that open easily and lie flat. It does make them a pleasure to read, and consult.
That's fascinating: I didn't know any of the technical side, but I know that I always appreciate a suppler binding. I think having hands in the photo is Good Press 'house style' for displaying all books in their shop -- so in the case of higher quality bindings, I guess they're decorative!
Thank you — enjoyed seeing and hearing about these books, and probably especially so precisely because they're being showcased and discussed like this. Sometimes it takes someone else really paying attention, and sharing it, for one to begin to pay real attention oneself.
I love this post, and have tagged my husband Bob Carling in a Restack. We ran a small indie press, Cultured Llama, and he worked in STM publishing for many years before I dragged him into poetry and short fiction publishing. He taught me to look at books in a different way.
Thank you, Jeremy, for this slice of poetry sunshine. Strange that Stevens who explores colour with such relish in his poetry is so against its use by printers.
I’m also especially enjoying seeing the shadows of the other pages coming through the spacious presentations in the middle text you shared.
You're very welcome! Yes, I wonder if Stevens felt coloured ink would somehow be too literal a presentation of his highly coloured words -- and intrigued that at first he seems to allow the possibility of green, but not purple, only then to back away from the whole idea on principle.
À propos ‘the way books are put together’, the Hanuman Editions book shown here seems to exhibit the common failing of any book now made in the UK: the difficulty of opening it up and letting it lie flat without the help of fingers and thumbs. The secret here is in the glue that holds together the pages or sections of pages. Up until around 1970 the glue used was almost always water-based; since then polymer adhesives have become normal in the UK printing industry, and elsewhere in the world. Water-based adhesives – familiar as the PVA adhesives used in joinery – are strong and supple and might take 24 hours to dry; the polymer/plastic adhesives are by comparison less supple but are very quick to dry. For reasons of time and therefore money, the old glues were displaced by the new plastic alternatives. The change of technics has had its effects on the design of pages: inside margins will have to be wider, to accommodate the difficulty in opening the book. So these thumb nails may look nice, but it would have been better if the digits they belong to hadn’t been needed.
Fascinating. I haven't looked into the glue they use, or what sort of margins they have, but Persephone Press pride themselves in producing paperbacks that open easily and lie flat. It does make them a pleasure to read, and consult.
Persephone is a fine exception in this respect. Its books are bound with water-based glue … in Germany!
Ah, that explains it, Robin!
That's fascinating: I didn't know any of the technical side, but I know that I always appreciate a suppler binding. I think having hands in the photo is Good Press 'house style' for displaying all books in their shop -- so in the case of higher quality bindings, I guess they're decorative!
Thank you — enjoyed seeing and hearing about these books, and probably especially so precisely because they're being showcased and discussed like this. Sometimes it takes someone else really paying attention, and sharing it, for one to begin to pay real attention oneself.
I love this post, and have tagged my husband Bob Carling in a Restack. We ran a small indie press, Cultured Llama, and he worked in STM publishing for many years before I dragged him into poetry and short fiction publishing. He taught me to look at books in a different way.
Thank you, Jeremy, for this slice of poetry sunshine. Strange that Stevens who explores colour with such relish in his poetry is so against its use by printers.
I’m also especially enjoying seeing the shadows of the other pages coming through the spacious presentations in the middle text you shared.
You're very welcome! Yes, I wonder if Stevens felt coloured ink would somehow be too literal a presentation of his highly coloured words -- and intrigued that at first he seems to allow the possibility of green, but not purple, only then to back away from the whole idea on principle.
Also, could never, ever have expected that today would include seeing the lining of Walt Whitman's hat!
It's a splendid lining, too! He was right to preserve it...
😊