THE OLD SCHOOL PRESS

A guide to our site

Find out how to get the most from our site.

At all times you should see a column of buttons on the left hand side of the screen - these are your main way to get around the site. But there are also other buttons here and there which will allow you to get into more detail, see pictures, read excerpts, and so on. Read on to find out more of what is available.

Some excerpts and essays are in the form of PDF files for which you will need the (free) Adobe Reader. Click here to visit the site where you can get a free download: .

Features available

The button to look for

At any time you can click on the 'home' button on the left to get back to the main page.

We have a number of books in print at any one time, and other books planned. Click on the 'in print' button on the left to get an index to our books in print. Click on the 'plans' button on the left to get an index to the books we are planning. Click on the 'full list' button on the left to get a complete listing of all our in print and planned books. For a checklist of all the books we have published, in print and out of print, click on the 'history' button on the left.

If you are a binder and like to obtain unbound sets of sheets you will find that we also generally reserve a small proportion of each edition unbound for binders and at a large discount. Look for books with the 'sheets' sign: if you hold the cursor over the sign it will tell you how many sections are supplied. For a full list of items in sheets, click on the 'binders' button on the left.

Our e-newsletters record progress with individual titles. As work progresses the story builds, and, if a book is in hand, you will see a 'progress' button against its listing - by clicking on it you can start reading the history of the book from the first newsletter it featured in. For books that have been published you will see a 'cuttings' button.

Each newsletter entry has buttons that take you back and forth for the entries for that book, so you can see how things went through the project.

You can browse through all our past newsletters by clicking on the 'archive' button on the left.

For some books, you can get substantial excerpts of the text of the book when you see an 'excerpt' button. When you click on an 'excerpt' button a new window will open , and the excerpt will be displayed. The format will be similar to, but not exactly the same as, that in the book itself. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view it as the excerpt takes the form of a pdf file. The files tend to be large, at around 100K - so be warned if you are on a slow line!

The listing for a title will generally offer one of the illustrations from the book: just click on the thumbnail.

In most cases, the listing for a title will offer a picture of the book itself, perhaps showing the binding and a sample opening. Click on the 'see more' button to see the picture.

We hope of course that you will want to buy books from us. You can get details of how to order by clicking on the 'order' button on the left.

Why not ask to receive our e-mail newsletters on developments at the Press? We send them out no more than once a month, and aim to give a little of the flavour of the trials, tribulations, and pleasures of the private press. No salesperson will call and you can cancel at any time. Click on the 'contact' button on the left and send us your request. To read past newsletters, click on the 'archive' button on the left.

You can use a simple form to order paper versions of prospectuses and to ensure you get announcements of future books when they are available. Click on the 'contact' button on the left and send us your request.

You may be interested to know a little about how a book gets printed. Click on the 'at work' button on the left for a number of sequences of photos of printing in progress. The same page will take you to coverage of the presses and type we use. (Please bear in mind that the images can be up to around 100KB in size, taking perhaps 30s on a dial-up line.)

For some of our books we have recorded the steps involved in a series of photographs with the occasional video. Where there is a picture diary for a book, you will find a 'the story' button in the listing for the book.

The Old School Press actively supports the work of the Fine Press Book Association (FPBA), membership of which is open to everyone with an interest in contemporary fine printing - as collector, dealer, or printer. Click on the 'FPBA' button on the left to visit the FPBA's own website.

A section of the site is devoted to sound recordings of conversations with printers and others involved in the work of the Press.