Afton House Books

My printer informs me that the books will be packed and shipped from Milan to Virginia during next week, that is, the week of May 3rd. Some books to the EU may be shipped directly from Milan, another cost check is happening. The others come to Virginia first, then out to subscribers.

Volumes 3 and 4 are sitting on my computer in PDF, ready to go to the printer but awaiting the last check from one of my editors… this is a semi-automated check, and may already be finished.

Clean off your reading glasses…

Now, to really whet your appetite… V4 Sample

The sample is not at full resolution, BTW…

Bookblocks are printed, and at the bindery for attachment to endpapers. Covers are printed. Binding comes next. With that and packaging, my printer says that she will ship to me by May 1. You will have books in hand by the end of May no matter where you are on the planet.

Someone was asking what the printing equipment was. It’s a Xerox IGEN 3.

Bob

Well, we are indeed moving along.

I chatted with my printer. The books are printed, and are now being sewn. Wait till you read of the newest delay…

The books are bound with two cloth bookmarkers each, and the top of the book is gilded. I think these are nice features, the first for convenience, the second for protection. Gilding isn’t so much for appearance (although it has a nice look) but to protect the top edges of the paper from dust and contaminants that might accelerate decay. Now, it turns out that the binder doesn’t do the gilding. And it turns out that there is only one gilder left in the northern half of Italy. That fellow knows my binder, but he’s pretty busy. Still, the printer thinks it may still be done in April, and shipped.

If any of you are thinking of going into publishing, do let me know… I could use a good grin or two…

I’ll keep you informed.

Regards…

Bob

Sorry that I’ve been so remiss on the blog lately. Travel, work, cigars… well, travel and work. However, good news of progress.

Books are being printed. I’m still waiting for a firm date on shipment, but as soon as I have it, I’ll let you know.

As to getting the other 4 volumes ready, we are in very good shape. All but 5 titles are composed: two novels and three short stories remain to be set.

After setting, the volumes are proofed: V3 & V4 are proofed, V5 is ready for proofing, and V6 contains the last 5 titles mentioned above.

After proofing, a last check is made, which we call “diffing”. We find differences between the set text and the reference texts from the original VIE. This is important for two types of errors: omissions, and duplications. Obviously, the proofers can’t determine that something is missing, although if something is duplicated, they often catch that. We run the diffing process because there’s so much material. V3 & V4 are being diffed as we speak, and once diffing is finished: off to the printer.

I realize that I had hoped to have volumes in December, but my hope is that once you have the finished volume in hand, that you’ll agree that the results justified the delay.