Michael
Keller / Bookbinding and Restoration
Michael
Keller / Bookbinding and Restoration
Revised September, 2024
Home Printables Gallery Links Faqs Contact
Printables - chapbooks
My intention is to provide material which can be printed at home,
manipulated and bound to produce chapbooks, books, etc.
All of the content is, to the best of my knowledge, without copyright and - in this format,
has never been reproduced commercially.
All material comes in a variety of suitable, downloadable file formats.
Chapbooks: J.G. Rusher series titles:
click title to see visuals and download...
Buckram Grove Press series titles : Food for thought Bibliorhea Mark & Don
I also include templates for anyone interested in creating your own original chapbook .
J.G. Rusher series:
J.G. Rusher was a printer in Banbury, England ca. 1830 and commercially produced these chapbooks for children,.
There are six titles in this set.
Cries of Banbury -“The Cries of Banbury and London, and Celebrated Stories.”
A collection of often heard calls from street vendors and others of the era, announcing their wares to the public.
Dick Whittington - “The History of Dick Whittington, Lord Mayor of London,
With the Adventures of his Cat.” A story familiar to all English children of the time.
Old Mother Hubbard - “Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog.”
Based on the popular nursery rhyme of the day.
London Jingles – “London Jingles and Country Tales, for Young People”.
A collection of popular ‘moral’ stories for children.
Tom Thumb -“The History of Tom Thumb.”
Based on the popular British children’s story of the day.
Nursery Poems - “Nursery Poems, from the Ancient and Modern Poets.”
A collection of old and ‘new’ children’s rhymes.
________________________________________________________________________________________
[all
text has been restored with aesthetically appropriate digital
fonts;
all original woodcut illustrations have been digitally
‘cleaned and enhanced’.]
[a heavy paper enclosure for this six chapbook set is available: download, print, cut, fold and assemble.]
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Buckram Grove Press series :
Three eclectic chapbooks designed by M. Keller with mostly humourous intent.
Food
for thought - “Food
for Thought to Go With a Good Beer”.
Various quotes and quips related to beer.
From Frank Zappa, the
Bible, Dave Barry, etc.
Bibliorhea
- “ Bibliorhea
A bookish lexicon inspired by Steven Gilbar's 'The Book
Book'”.
Definitions
of book related words, with some
quotes.
Mark
& Don - Mark
& don ‘never the twain shall meet’ Mark Twain
quotes on Politics
to which is added ‘stuff from trump’s
brane’
“
Obviously
low-hanging fruit; I just couldn’t help myself.
The files : “pdf” (a pdf file with both sides1 & 2) “.jpg”(2 graphic files) “.zip”(compressed file containing all files)
Cries of Banbury - DOWNLOAD : .pdf (.7M) .jpg (.8M) .zip (2.5M)
Dick Whittington - DOWNLOAD : .pdf (.7M) .jpg (1.2M) .zip (3.2M)
Old Mother Hubbard - DOWNLOAD : .pdf(.7m) .jpg(.8m) .zip (2.7m)
London Jingles – DOWNLOAD : .pdf(.6m) .jpg(.7m) .zip(2.3m)
Tom Thumb - DOWNLOAD : .pdf(.5m) .jpg (.7m) .zip (2m)
Nursery Poems - DOWNLOAD : .pdf(.5m) .jpg(.6m) .zip (1.8m)
Buckram Grove Press series:
Food for thought - DOWNLOAD : .pdf(.3m) .jpg(.4m) .zip(1.5m)
Bibliorhea - DOWNLOAD : .pdf(.7m) .jpg (.8m) .zip(2.6m)
Mark & Don - DOWNLOAD : .pdf(.5m) .jpg(.6m) .zip(2.1m)
NOTES :
Chapbooks : We will begin with the simplest layout.
The above titles can be printed out on a single [both sides],
standard sheet of 8.5 by 11 inch paper (a.k.a. ‘letter’) using most home computers and printers*.
The printed sheet of paper is then folded in half at the middle of the longest side,
keeping the ‘title-page’ visible.
Then repeat two more times, taking care that all folds are as even as possible and very sharply creased.
This will produce a small (apx. 2.75 by 4.25 inch booklet of 16 pages.
Before being trimmed along the top edge to free the pages, they are secured to each other by sewing (or even stapled)
through the fold at the spine-edge. The ‘fore-edge’ (opposite the spine-edge) can be trimmed if desired.
That’s it.
The
Open Source concept - briefly,
the digital product of someone’s time and effort and
shared
on-line, usually free of charge for personal use, excluding
commercial use.
From the beginning of my efforts to digitally
create books, I’ve used this resource constantly
and feel its
only right to pass it on. For the record, I have only
once profited from this work
-and that was many years ago.
What all of this means to you is that I make everything I
have,
available with the intention that it will be used for
your personal enjoyment.
I encourage you to make as many copies
as you want, and distribute these resources freely
. . .
UNLESS
there
is PROFIT
involved...in
which case you will have to discuss it with me first. Thats
it.
printing
advice - dimensions are of
primary importance, especially with chapbooks.
The problem is,
many, if not most, home computer printing programs and the printers
themselves
are pre-programed to impose borders or margins onto
what you give it.
Since these chapbooks are designed without any
margins or borders in order for the multiple folds
to function
properly, it is essential that you disable any default settings
necessary. Good luck.
[ink
vs. toner] I personally prefer more permanent ink
(dye?): Ink Jet Printers over the
microscopic
colored plastic balls that are melted on to paper fiber: Laser
Printers.
The only drawback with ink might be that since the ink
actually sinks into the paper fiber,
on thinner paper it can
cause “show-through” on the reverse side.
Not actually an
issue with a slightly heavier paper stock.
paper
advice - Further
on the topic, I have a strong aesthetic dislike for the stark white
of modern paper
when it is used to create an ‘antique’
printed work. My personal go-to paper for everything
is
a cream colored, 24 lb. paper (typical everyday ‘cartridge’ paper
is 20 lb.).
This is sometimes marketed as “correspondence”
or “document” stock. Finally, when first starting,
you would be wise to use your cheapest paper until you are
certain everything
is as it should be and you have a
functioning practice copy.
file
formats - I’m
assuming most are already familiar with the standards: PDF, JPG, and
ZIP.
Also included in the .zip are .ODG s, and ODT s. These
are my original design files produced using
Libre Office [Open
Office]. Both ‘office suite’ collections of programs
are pretty sophisticated.
Open Source (absolutely free), operate
on Linux, Windows, Mac..., and I now use them for everything,
including creating this website !
create
your own chapbook -
Speaking
of Libre Office, it occurs to me that there may be someone out there
interested in creating your own 16 page booklet(s)
containing
. . . whatever.
With that in mind I offer these
templates
I
use, in the hope it makes the process a bit easier:
DOWNLOAD TEMPLATES(1.3m)
Rusher
enclosure -
For
anyone interested in reproducing all 6 titles in the Rusher series,
I have designed an enclosure using a single sheet of 8.5 by 11
inch heavy paper.
I personalize them (insert a temporary ‘text
box’ with the intended recipient’s name), print, cut, assemble.
I
hope I have made everything else self-explanatory in the designs.
DOWNLOAD ENCLOSURE(1.1m)
Where are
the books ? - Ah
yes, the books... While all of the titles were
made over the past 2 decades;
during those 20 years or so, a
variety of complicating issues have arisen (technical, personal,
etc.)
which will require more time to get them ready for
distribution. So I ask for your patience.
Since my spare time
and resources are very
limited these days –
I’ve made this my priority project
over the next months.
Each title will be made available as soon
as it is completed. m.k. Dec.,
2024
