Paper

Arctic Paper gets boost from HarperCollins' bumper Hobbit print run
December 17, 2012

HarperCollins has published the Visual Companion and Official Movie Guide for The Hobbit, as well as children's books The Movie Story Book and The World of Hobbits to coincide with the cinema release of the first of three films based on the prequel to JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Arctic Paper delivered 404 tonnes of Arctic Silk 130gsm to Italian book printer Rotolito Lombarda Spa for the 740,000 books that made up the initial print runs of the four titles, reprints of which are already in the pipeline.

HarperCollins Accused of Pulping Rainforests
December 13, 2012

Rainforest Action Network has launched a campaign urging HarperCollins to end the use of fiber from controversial sources after it said that independent forensic tests found significant quantities of pulp from Indonesian rainforests in several of the publishing company’s books.

Mixed tropical hardwood and high-risk acacia fiber were found in HarperCollins’ bestselling children’s book “Fancy Nancy’s Splendiferous Christmas,” RAN said. Acacia was also found in HarperCollins titles including “Splat the Cat: The Perfect Present for Mom and Dad” and “Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past,” the environmental group said.

Edwards Brothers Malloy Now Offering 4-Color Offset Book Printing, Increased 4-Color Digital Capacity
November 30, 2012

[Press Release] Ann Arbor, MI (November 29, 2012)—For over a century, Edwards Brothers Malloy has been a leader in 1- and 2-color book manufacturing.  With the purchase of a 40” Heidelberg Speedmaster offset sheetfed press dedicated to 4-color text work, Edwards Brothers Malloy can now offer 4-color book and journal printing in runs from one to 3,000 copies.  The Heidelberg offset press will be fully operational in the company’s State Street plant in Ann Arbor by the middle of January 2013.

Reading on a Kindle is not the same as reading a book.
November 15, 2012

There's an excerpt from Andrew Piper's "Book Was There: Reading in Electronic Times" on Slate that trumpets the tactile advantages of p-books, positing that "E-reading isn't reading." 

Quoth Piper: "For Augustine, the book’s closedness—that it could be grasped as a totality—was integral to its success in generating transformative reading experiences. Its closedness was the condition of the reader’s conversion. Digital texts, by contrast, are radically open in their networked form. They are marked by a very weak sense of closure."

Aristotle, Braille, Delacroix and our favorite, El Lissitzky, also pop in.

—Brian Howard

Paper is Part of the Process
November 1, 2012

If you've been following the printing world—and if you're reading this column we've got a hunch that you have—you know that advances in digital printing have transformed the technology from the world of the small-run to a viable print-on-demand option for publishers of all sizes and stripes. But don't be fooled: Digital and offset lithography remain quite different beasts.

Stephen Marche: "This is a book you cannot read on a Kindle"
September 18, 2012

“This is a book you cannot read on a Kindle,” Stephen Marche says proudly. “It’s not possible to do. This is a physical book, and the experience of holding it in your hands is integral to its reality.” The thing that makes Marche’s third novel so resistant to digitization is its form. Between the covers is a poignant, fractured narrative of adultery and madness that is sometimes laid out in parallel columns like a script, sometimes in typographic patterns like concrete poetry, and sometimes like flowing waves set sideways.

How Traditional Hardback Books Are Made [VIDEO]
September 11, 2012

In the age of digital mobile content, eBooks, apps, tablets and dynamic publishing, many of us still desire the company of a printed, hardbound book. We love our computerized gadgets, but we also yearn for the feeling that only a well-designed hardback book can provide. But, chances are, few of us understand how hardbound books are made. In this short, but mesmerizing video, you’ll see how the folks at Smith Settle bookbinders bring a hardback book to life. [click through for video]

Adult Fiction/Non-Fiction Hardcover Revenues Topped eBooks in April
August 8, 2012

According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP) StatShot monthly revenue report for April, sales revenue in the adult fiction/non-fiction hardcover category beat eBooks for the month. “For April, Hardcover returned to the #1 spot for sales revenue for Adult Fiction/Non-Fiction ahead of eBooks, reflecting seasonal buying patterns …"

Scholastic Reports 2011 Progress toward Industry-Leading Goals for Use of FSC-Certified and Recycled Paper
July 30, 2012

New York, NY — July 30, 2012 — Scholastic Inc., the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today announced another year of significant progress toward the company-wide goal of strengthening its sustainable paper procurement practices and increasing the percentage of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified and post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled paper purchased by the company.


Pulp Nonfiction
July 1, 2012

Trying to decipher paper pricing trends is like scrutinizing snowflakes—the closer you get, the more complex they seem. Still, there are a few key factors when considering the current economics of the paper business, which has been subject to unprecedented forces during and in the wake of the recent recession.