Printing books

I am very fortunate to have had an elderly lady relative to whom I was very close but, in a 'bloke sort of way' I didn't know, and didn't care, how I was related, it just seemed to be enough to know that I was related. As she was much older than me and was around from my earliest memory, I guess I figured she was an Aunt or some sort of Grandmother but all generations knew her as Auntie Anne.
Anyway, when my first daughter was born, Auntie Anne wrote a series of letters to her, telling her, in great detail, the family history from 9th September, 1863, to the then present day.
Over the years, I have actually been able to find photos and items to illustrate these letters and I have (finally?) turned them into a book.
It was via these letters that I found that my family came from the Orkney Islands, that I have visited there twice now and that I have met bloodline relatives and traced my family back many more generations.
The 'book' currently consists of 20+ PDF files, one for each letter plus a foreword and to date I have printed and spiral bound only a few copies one of which is in the Kirkwall Library on the Orkneys.
In the letters, Auntie Anne had asked my daughter, the first of her generation, to share the book with her siblings and cousins and I want to make that happen.
It is written in A4 landscape format and I want to have about 20 books printed and potentially leather bound with each copy being named for its recipient.

but how......?

Is PDF the right format, should I make it one complete book on PDF, should I buy a decent printer, print the 20 copies and take a bundle of paper to a book binder or is there something better?
fletty

Subscribed, I have a similar issue and up until now I have digitised all the documents and what translations I have into Flip Album.....http://www.flipalbum.com/fahome/

This I did by putting the original letter on one page and the translation on the facing page and an index automatically builds as it is done. To watch it on a computer the viewer only has to put the DVD in and it is a self executing file that opens without and extra software needed. I also would like to put all this into hard copy the same as you but haven't given it a huge amount of thought yet. Perhaps start with a quick printing place and ask questions there.

I got this when I put boutique printing into Mr Google so it appears that there are small printing companies out there that may do stuff like this

https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sour...tique+printing

I just asked my wife, the author who has all sorts of contacts with small press, and she recommended this site
https://www.lulu.com/
You can make up your book and print as many copies as you like or send people the link and they can have their copies printed and sent to them directly.

I can assist with a DVD presentation but then again E should be adapt at that also. Glad to help if need be.

Try asking Ross off here after all he is/was into printing.

Ross is most definitely still in printing. I had a tour of his workshop the other day. I did think of Ross but I'm not sure if he does books.

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Originally Posted by NCArcher

I just asked my wife, the author who has all sorts of contacts with small press, and she recommended this site
https://www.lulu.com/

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crikey! it is mind blowing! Soft cover, hard cover, all on-line!
It reminds me of Amazon and the PTO process. Amazon have tens of thousands of books on their selling list but NO expensive stock because they Print To Order. You order and then they print, even hard cover!
What an exciting World it is!
fletty

For what it's worth ...

Big W have very much the same thing via their Photo book option

Have used them a couple of times to generate a Grandmother's "brag book"

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Originally Posted by ian

For what it's worth ...

Big W have very much the same thing via their Photo book option

Have used them a couple of times to generate a Grandmother's "brag book"

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Thanks Ian, have you used it for text and photos?

fletty

I've got a couple of genealogy books from this mob.

www.pirola.nl (you'll need google to translate from dutch).

Two people in my family tree had their books printed here.
One is 440 pages bound and costs 56 Euro.

I don't know what minimum order is.

Peter

Uncle use to use a place in Gowings old building in the city not sure if they are still there.

found this mob http://www.ljcullenbookbinders.com.au/

One at Prestons https://plus.google.com/101911324831...ut?gl=au&hl=en

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ian

For what it's worth ...

Big W have very much the same thing via their Photo book option

Have used them a couple of times to generate a Grandmother's "brag book"

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by fletty

Thanks Ian, have you used it for text and photos?

fletty

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Simple text like a caption is fine, more complex text must be treated as an image file -- not a problem for me as the software I use outputs JPG or PDF files

most printers can handle PDFs without blinking, even office works

A PDF is generally the most robust file format for printing. Just remember to proof read it, then proof read it again, then get someone else to proof read it! And you'll still find a "D'oh" quality mistake once it's actually printed!