What is "Digital"?

We print with real ink on real presses.
We use the latest computer technology.

We print with real presses, real ink on paper. The process is offset lithography, the classical standard for high quality printing. We use computers throughout the process and make our printing plates with computer-to-plate systems. We can begin with your files in just about any format you prefer - InDesign, QuarkXpress, Pagemaker, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, PDF, etc. If we can't accept your file format directly (as with some music or mathematics typesetting programs, for example) we can help you output your book in a file format that we can use. We can also begin with your clean, sharp paper copy or an already-printed book.

The term "digital" has been hijacked in current use to mean reproduction by xerography or ink jet or similar methods, as contrasted with real printing on presses. Xerography is the technology used for copy machines and laser printers. Ink jet is the technology of many computer printers. There are also modern variants of xerography based on flash fusing and e-beam writing, but in each case the image is formed by a toner bonded to the surface of the paper by heat.

Digital printing is a lower cost approach at very small quantities that is suitable where the lower quality is acceptable. It is the only practical way to do printing on demand (POD), in which books are produced, one or several at a time, as they are needed. As the number of copies reaches 200-500, digital printing loses the advantage of lower cost.

We do not offer digital printing because we do not find the quality of digital printing to be acceptable for production of books. The clarity and sharpness of type and images is not satisfactory, and the waviness of the book pages caused by the heat in the process is objectionable. The most serious issue for many of the samples we've seen (when we are reprinting books that were originally produced digitally) is the quality and finish of the digitally printed cover, which is generally inferior, sometimes embarrassingly so.

book printing | book printer