| |
You are here: Experts > News/Issues > Publishing > Printing, Bookbinding & Paper making > instructional materials on what I need to get started on book printing and binding
Printing, Bookbinding & Paper making - instructional materials on what I need to get started on book printing and binding
Expert: Rupert Evans - 11/2/2009
Question
QUESTION: Hi Mr Evans,
I have no training nor learning in book printing and binding. But just got an insight that there is prospect for me in the industries. I need some instructional materials that can give an idiot's guide on how to get started in the field and what equipments and accessories to get started with. Thanks. Ob
ANSWER: Are you interested in repairing and rebinding older books? Or in binding small quantities of newly printed books? Or in binding 500 or more copies of the same book? The equipment and the processes are quite different.
Rupert
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: printing and binding 500 or more copies of the same book.
Answer
The equipment required for binding large quantities of books is expensive. A binding line which can produce several hundred hard-back books per hour can easily cost over a million dollars. However, one can buy a second-hand machine for binding perhaps fifty soft-back books per hour for less than ten thousand dollars. Obviously, the latter type of machine requires much more labor per book than the former.
There are literally hundreds of books which have been written which tell one how to repair books and how to bind small quantities of newly printed books, but very little has been written about mass produced binding of books. The most satisfactory way of learning how to do this is to get a job with a company which does such work and to learn the skills involved by working on the job. Unfortunately, the equipment is so specialized that few of the skills learned on the job are transferable to employment on equipment made by a different company.
I wish I could give you more complete advice. Unfortunately, most of my experience has been with repairing and rebinding older books and with binding small quantities of newly printed books, and this is not what you are interested in. When I have a job which involves printing and binding more than a few hundred copies, I have the work done by Thomson-Shore in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My best advice to you is to seek employment with such a company and learn the trade there.
Add to this Answer Ask a Question
|
|
