THE OLD SCHOOL PRESS

The making of Harry Carter, Typographer

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Having cast the type, Stan takes two proofs for me. One goes to the author for correction; the other I use for my 'paste-up': a rather messy simulacrum of the final book, with the right number of folded sections of the right number of sheets, and all the text and images pasted on to their respective pages so that I know where everything falls. Each section is 16pp long.

In the picture you can see pp26-7 of the paste-up, with a gap of the appropriate size left on p26 for a photograph that will be tipped in. The photographs have been scanned and will be printed at the Cloister Press near Cambridge using conventional offset litho.

All the correct running heads and folios are pasted in too, together with all the measurements I need when printing. Experience has taught me to get all these sorted out before ink hits paper, otherwise I shall be making (too many) design decisions on the bed of the press.