Volume 37, Number 3 · March 1, 1990
The Decline and Rise of Publishing
By Jason Epstein
Book publishing can be done only by hand, one book at a time, like any custom work or like writing itself, though with respect to writers publishers are mere valets or midwives. Industrial methods come into the work only at the end, when the manuscript has been edited and sent to the printer. But even at this stage books are individualized in countless ways. Should there be illustrations? Should they be in black and white, or in color? Should they be gathered in groups of eight or sixteen pages or should they be placed appropriately throughout the text, a more expensive process? Should the paper be off-white or white? What should the paper weigh?
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