This February, we spent several consecutive days on press at GHP, a printing company headed by John Robinson '70, MBA '81, in West Haven, Connecticut. We were working on "Yale and the American Adventure" -- a printed and bound rendition of an address given by David McCullough '55 to celebrate the conclusion of the Yale Tomorrow campaign.

After the design work was completed under the supervision of the University Printer, it was time to begin the process of proofing, printing, and binding. After reviewing several rounds of color correction to ensure that the photographs would look as they should when printed, we went to GHP to be "on press" to oversee printing.

After about fifty sheets were printed, the pressman would grab a few sample sheets to check for color.

 
Above, you can see one of GHP's color checking stations. There's a densitometer that digitally reads the color bars at the "tail" of each press sheet, a monitor that displays the color data, buttons to selectively adjust color as needed, and a loupe (a printer's magnifying glass, used to inspect type and color up close). 

After ensuring that the ink coverage was generally correct, we had to check every image against the original color proof. If necessary -- it almost always was -- the pressman would make adjustments to the colors. Because each button controls only the color of the images in the vertical areas above it, additional challenges arose when more than one image fell within the same vertical space. One image might need to be made less red, while the image below might have already been too blue. Balancing these considerations requires multiple rounds of tweaking the settings, printing more sheets, and checking against the proofs. In addition, while the sheet might look right against the proof under the standard viewing light, it might look too "warm" under normal viewing conditions -- more tweaking and compromises!

Inevitably, we generated waste sheets in the color checking process, which are commercially recycled or reused as "make ready" for other jobs.

 
But finally, the competing color demands were resolved, and Rebecca signed and dated a sheet to serve as a reference to the pressman and to be preserved as a visual contract should there later be a dispute about printing quality. One sheet down, seven more to go! Once the sheet was approved, the printer ran the entire print quantity with "overs" for binding setup and began preparing the next press form. 

After nearly two consecutive round-the-clock days on press, printing of the book's interior pages was complete.

Then we repeated the color-checking process for the book's cover.

At that point, our job at GHP was complete. Next, the press sheets were shipped to the binder in upstate New York where they were folded, collated, sewn, glued, trimmed, and cased-in -- made into a proper book.

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A few weeks later, we received the final products in our office. Below are a couple of teaser images of the softcover and hardcover versions of the book!

Thank you to the printer for a job well done.