Doors Open Toronto .... continued

Have you ever wondered how a book is printed and assembled? Mihkel and I had the opportunity to see the process with a demonstration from the staff at the Coach House Press. Here is the process in pictures with commentary in between.

As you enter the press room, an introduction to the historic way of press printing is given. The photo on the right shows all the letters and characters you need to create your piece. Once done you would take your plate to the ink machine and run it through. It was hard work and not an easy task.

Not long after this machine was introduced, it made it possible to run a lot more a lot faster. It also allowed for the pages to be cut through the process.

Once your material was printed, it went to the folder station. 

After the folder station, the book is fully folded and ready to be glued together.

Here is a demonstration of how the book will now be glued together using this machine.

After running the cover through the glue; its extremely hot! It takes only 30 seconds for the glue to settle and the book is complete. The last process is to let the book be pressed with a heavy weight, at the same time the edges are trimmed giving the book its finishing touch.

Here is a photo of how tiny the press house is. I would highly recommend if you are ever in the area to stop by and check out this historic print house.