It's been a busy week with a lot of waiting around for things to come back from the printers. Allander brought round a test copy of Rhythm & Colour to check that the binding is correct. The book is being bound by Charles Letts & Co. in Dalkeith, a company famous for their diaries but also a specialist binder and finisher. The text pages look fantastic: I am delighted with the paper, the print quality, and the flexibility of the binding – the book lays flat when opened. We made some adjustments to the cover, after which Letts made another test copy, which I signed off. I’m very happy with it.
The dust jacket has not worked out as I expected: in order to have the UV spot gloss varnish that I originally planned, the dust jacket – which is printed on 150gsm Olin Regular Cream, an uncoated paper – needs to be sealed: the anti-scuff seal did not work and took away from the tactile quality of the paper. Luckily, last week, Allander had sent me some running sheets of the dust jacket to check the colour balance. I trimmed one of these sheets to size and wrapped it around the test copy of the book. I was much happier with the cover without a sealant or coating and although that means we cannot have a spot varnish as I planned, I think we gain more from keeping the natural quality of the paper that maintains the connection to the text pages which are printed on the same stock. Allander are currently reprinting the dust jacket; once we have this, Letts will run some tests as they are concerned that the dust jacket may crack when folded. I've run some ʻtests’ here with the running sheets and, so far, no cracks, so fingers crossed that we are able to do this.
Meanwhile, Rees & Co., the cultural communications agency that are promoting the book, have been pushing ahead with the press campaign, including a small article in the June issue of Harper’s Bazaar. I am also delighted to hear that the book will be distributed by Cornerhouse Publications in Manchester.