Fine Edition Spotlight: Rocks and Oil, The Memoirs of Paul L. Keyes

Every so often we get to work on a project that is hard to just box up, invoice and ship it off without a little “show and tell” about the project.

Rocks and Oil, The Memoirs of Paul L. Keyes was one of those type of projects. The project was spearheaded by Scott Damshroder, founder of the book design firm Big Ransom Studios in Georgetown, TX. Although we are both busy working on quite a few hot projects right now, when things simmer down, Scott has agreed to guest host a blog article providing some further in depth information on the origination and various aspects of this fine edition.

Producing projects like this requires an enormous amount of attention to detail and team work. Over a period of months, we worked together with designer, printer, our bindery and an outside specialty finisher to complete the final product.

Here’s a few shots of some of the production techniques deployed on this fine edition:

Front Cover of book with dust jacket applied

Front cover view of the burnished bonded leather
which was imported from Italy

Full view of the burnishing which covered back, front and spine of the hard cover

Closeup view of the detail and distinctive dimensionality created by the burnishing technique used

Printed world map end sheets used on front and back

6 page foldout spreads were interspersed into 6 locations in the text of the book

A white Head and Tail band was used to complement the beige tone of the Italian bonded leather

My hat’s off to Big Ransom Studios for such a fine job on the design, concept and production of this fine edition. Look for more details here from Scott in the near future in relation to this impressive production!