Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Gruub Street Printing Newsletter #66, October 2014

1989 was a busy year for me. Charlie Baker and I worked all summer in a sweltering warehouse, converting 11,000 square feet into a book manufacturing plant.
And my family sold our home beside I-94 in Ypsilanti to reside in the bucolic Township of Hamburg, Michigan.
And in the first week-end of June, I attended the ABA trade show (now BEA) in Washington DC with my wife and children in tow so I could publicize the fact that South East Michigan would have a new book manufacturer opening in the fall, Baker Johnson, Inc.
But something far bigger than the ABA show was happening on the other side of the world, something whose roots I had been only dimly aware of.
Late on Sunday in the District of Columbia I decided that our family should drive through our country's center of government on a sunny, steamy afternoon.
But not far from our hotel we found blocked streets and detours everywhere we tried to go.
The city was cut in two by marchers, many dressed in white robes, carrying signs, mostly in an Asian script, but occasionally in English, demanding democracy for the citizens of what had until recently been called Red China.
Being no stranger to outsized marches and protests, I figured to wait a few minutes and let the procession pass. But minute after minute passed with no end in sight. In fact as more marchers appeared to be wearing western garb, the protest seemed to be attracting sympathetic observers.
Later we found out that early that morning in China, troops had fired on protesting citizens in Tienanmen Square. To this day there are no known figures on the number killed or injured.
On the next day, 70,000 people in the British Dependent Territory of Hong Kong staged their protest over the violence of the Chinese government and siding with the pro-democracy protesters.
As I shut down the computer last night, the last picture I saw was a Chinese armored personnel carrier slipping through a tunnel in Hong Kong in the middle of the night.
Again there are 70,000 protestors (or more) in the streets and again the issue is democracy, the right of the citizens of Hong Kong to choose their own officials through transparent elections.
The Chinese government doesn't seem to be budging, preferring to retain it's hand-picked committee of 1,200 Beijing loyalists who will do all of the voting for the Hong Kong government leaders in 2017.
One man, one vote holds no sway on Hong Kong, although many citizens believe that's exactly what was promised when the Union Jack was taken down and the red and yellow flag of China was raised over the island on July 1, 1997.
Many of you have asked if I do any printing in China. I don't.
Ironically, however, Baker Johnson did manage to sell most of it's equipment to a Chinese equipment broker in 2005 as we closed shop, so it wouldn't be inconceivable for me to make books on the same equipment I made books on 25 years ago.
But that doesn't interest me either.
Without being preachy, I don't like the way that China works.
Last year I attended an event honoring Ardis publishers, founded by Carl and Ellendea Proffer, Russian Literature professors at the University of Michigan. I started doing their books in 1979 and printed nearly all of their titles for a couple of decades or so in the days before Glastnost. Not only did they publish beautiful translations from Russia's rich literary heritage, we worked with them to produce books small enough to be sewn into a trench coat, thin enough to hide in a suitcase lining.
Apart from being incredibly brilliant people, Carl and Ellendea had a love of Russian literature that couldn't be contained; they “battled” over new books to read that were smuggled out of Russia and they would read the best literature aloud to each other in the language in which it was written. From Gogol to Iskander, Pushkin to Brodsky our shop produced classic novels as well as works of many unknown dissidents for Ardis.
As the gathering in the U of M Rackham Building was winding to a close, Ellendea rose and addressed the attendees for a few minutes. For a printer sitting among authors, editors, and ambassadors, listening to an emotional Ellendea describe her and Carl's mission and their journey, the passion I carry for books and a free press was reignited.
With her parting remarks, Ellendea caught my attention by adding “...and if you think the fight for free literary expression in the world is over, pay attention to the situation in China...”
And I have.
If you need a book printed in Asia, I work with a wonderful group of people in India.
 
Asian Pulp&Paper Signs NY Declaration
The New York Declaration to stop deforestation and renew forests has received the support of the Asian Pulp and Paper Group.
B&N Installs Espressos
The all in one Espresso bookmaking machine will get a trial in some east coast B&N outlets. About 15 years ago I read an article that said that books wouldn't be stocked in bookstores by 2003 because all a bookstore would need is a machine like an Espresso. I remember the prediction but wish I'd saved the article. The hype from the digerati back then was hilarious.
The Rise and Fall of Indies
The extinction of Indie book-selling has been reversed and the trend is vaguely heartening. What did the confluence of investors, explosion of digital media and creation of the Amazon monolith have to do with the fall and rise? Everything.
Ikea Parodies Apple Ads

Please enjoy this hilarious Ikea advertisement for its 2015 catalog being introduced in the intuitive “bookbook” format.
UK Youth Prefer Conventional Books
In a poll of 900 youth in the UK and Ireland, 73% reported that they prefer printed books over digital or audio offerings. Fully 31% do not buy ebooks, although 27% prefer them.
Is Learning to Read and Write A Lost Art?
From Facebook to eBay, we all realize that spelling and grammar are dieing a slow death, but why? Is teaching English as painful as this?
There's Hope
A new study by Pew Research paints a brighter picture of literacy in the younger generations, those who grew up in the digital age. 88% of people 30 years old and younger have read at least one book in the past year, while just 79% of those older than 30 reported the same.

Authors Take On Amazon (Again)
Amazon's refusal to treat Hachette's titles equitably while their feud simmers has gotten the attention of a number of noted authors including many not published by Hachette. Authors United was formed to examine the machinations of the company that controls 50% of American book sales.
Ebook Sharing
Amazon and Apple just made ebooks much more attractive by allowing family members to share their ebooks on each others' devices. I was so impressed that I actually bought my daughter an ebook for her and her husband to share over their multiple devices.

                                  Book Covers 101 
While I can neither describe or design what makes a memorable book cover, I recognize that some covers are just over the top fantastic. Peter Mendelsund was the artist on many of them.

                             

                            WWII, The Great Gatsby and 6¢ Books
American publishers supplied the troops with over 122,000,000 books during WWII. Many believe that not only was the market for books “democratized”, but also that many GIs brought their new pastime of reading home from the war with them.


Crowd-Sourcing for Library Distribution
JukePop has begun fund raising on Kickstarter to establish distribution of independent and small press ebook titles into libraries. 


        Final Thought for Banned Books Week

"We all know that books burn, yet we have the greater knowledge that books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man's eternal fight against tyranny of every kind."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Newsletters are archived with additional graphic material at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/

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