Creation of our books often utilises premium materials, handmade details and a lot of manual labour. The end result is a gorgeous, meticulously produced book. However, this approach cannot always guarantee that everything will be absolutely perfect, simply because human beings and natural materials are not perfect either.
Therefore, we consider these minor imperfections as a part of the charm of a handmade product. It represents the fact that a real person has had your book in their hands and did their work. Obviously, this does not concern serious defects that might occur in production and we tend to remedy those to the best of our ability.
However, if you find these minor imperfections unacceptable, it might be good to reconsider the purchase of books such as these. You can always return the book if it’s not to your liking, but it is worthwhile keeping in mind how our books are produced prior to making the decision. Therefore we encourage you to read the production segments below where we tried to explain certain elements of our production, so you can get a clearer idea about the amount of work that go into our books.
From Sherlock Holmes short story collection we have started printing our books on our very own Heidelberg Cylinder SBG.
While we love offset printed books, there is something truly unique and special about letterpress. It has a very distinctive look, not to mention that sensational feeling when you pass over the text with your fingertips.
This also means our future books (lettered and numbered editions) will be printed on mould-made cotton paper and currently we are in process of testing various brands to determine which one will be our “signature” paper.
Printing letterpress is a long and sometimes painstaking process. It doesn’t always result in a perfect print, but it certainly looks (and feels) amazing. We see these slight variations as a true testament that a master craftsman’s has laboured over those pages.
Some of our books feature leather covers. We always aim to pick the leather of highest quality; one that we can put our logo on with pride.
It is important to keep in mind that leather is a natural material first and foremost. Therefore, it can have certain markings and scars, which are a result of an animal’s natural experiences during its lifetime. Although we try to avoid using areas with such markings, sometimes it is unavoidable that these naturally occurring scars will find their way onto covers of our books.
Since this is the natural state of things, we do not consider these subtle markings a defect, but rather an “imperfectly perfect” natural material, that is beautiful just the way it is.
Our gilded page edges are not done by an automated machine, but rather by a person operating a manual machine. Therefore, small blemishes might occur on the gilding, purely because each book has gone through the hands of a master of his craft.
Although we try to avoid any of them happening at all, it is quite impossible to completely avoid them. Therefore, we see them as having a charm of a handmade product. It represents the fact that a real person, a craftsman, has had your book in their hands.
Some of our books feature marbled endpapers, typically with a motif that was inspired by some element of the story. Each paper is made by hand by a master of their craft, using the best pigments at their disposal to create rich and unique patterns.
That means that no two marbled papers are quite the same, because it would be quite impossible to even attempt to make them in such a way. Instead, they should be seen such as they are: a small works of art, each one completely unique, adding to the overall creative concept of the book. In some cases the ink might even transfer to the other side of the paper during drying, which for some books we tend to leave as is (instead of opting to make so-called “made papers”). We see this as some way of the artist’s “signature” and a proof of the handmade process.
Our lettered editions sometimes feature a title written by hand, often in shimmering ink that fits the story and our creative concept. These titles are written in before sewing and binding, and they go through a process of drying and sealing, as to minimise the chance of smearing.
Each of these titles is unique due to the nature of the ink and the calligraphy involved in writing them.
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