[pdftex] how to print books [OT but related]

[William F. Adams]

(posted and mailed)

franciszek asked:
(how to impose and self-publish a book)

There are a couple of different issues:

imposition --- arrangement of pages into signatures for folding and 
cutting (if necessary)

  - look up psbook, psnup, ps2ps, mpage for PostScript solutions, 
booklet and quire and others on CTAN for a TeX solution, pdfpages for a 
pdflatex solution

printing --- this is dependent on what's available to you in the way of 
equipment. Having a duplexing printer is nice, but not essential

folding, and cutting

  - depends on your format and print and page and folio size and 
available equipment. Having a guillotine, or a plough & press is nice, 
but not essential. One can manage quite well w/ just a couple of steel 
rulers and a (preferrably chisel-edged) X-acto knife.


binding

  - there're a number of different binding styles, including cheap 
office-oriented comb and perfect binding &c., Western sewn case 
bindings, Chinese Japanese & Korean stab bindings, and uniquely 
Japanese multi-section books. Your library should have texts on these, 
and I list some on my personal webspace, 
http://members.aol.com/willadams

William