Printing And Binding Books

[dvorak]

I'm interested in downloading classic (no longer under copywrite, like the dialogues of Plato) works and printing them, then binding them into books. I've bound a few blank journals, and I don't have any binding questions. I do have question about printing these books out (on a standard computer printer). Seems like you would want to print the work in landscape mode with one "page" of text on the left side of the page and one "page" of text on the right. This would allow you to fold the paper in the middle so that you could bind the pages together. Where it get's tricky is that the "pages" of text printed on the right and the left side of a single sheet of paper would not typically be sequential (unless it happened to be the middle page in the signature).

 

I'm thinking that somewhere there is software where you can input a text file, tell it how many pages to the signature, and then the software would re-order the text to make it "correct as bound".

 

I'm on a quest to do this. Anyone have any ideas on software? Reccomendations on where to look next? I've come up empty handed so far. THANKS.

 

Brent

[snowbear]

Try a Google search for "Public domain sheet music" - it looks like there are a few sources. (BTW, it's "copyright.")

Edited September 1, 2015 by cmwrenn3

[El Gordo]

If you can get a pdf file as output you might consider googling for bookbinder-3.0. Otherwise the regular word processing tools have the creation of booklets hidden somewhere. Personally found the Bookbinder stuff far easier to learn and use. Did not make large volumes, so don't know how it turns out then.

Edited September 1, 2015 by El Gordo

[Luma]

InDesign would not do it automatically but is the closest I can think of that you would be able to set up the pages. It's also simple enough to learn and use. The tricky part is figuring out the page sequence per signature and whatnot.

[El Gordo]

InDesign would not do it automatically but is the closest I can think of that you would be able to set up the pages. It's also simple enough to learn and use. The tricky part is figuring out the page sequence per signature and whatnot.

the page sequence and whatnot is exactly what bookbinder takes care of btw

[bongo47]

I do something similar with journal articles I want to read offline. I print them in pamphet mode that my office printer supports. It fits two pages per side (landscape), and automatically places them in the correct order so that I can do one cut down the center, and bring the two stacks together with page one on top (like closing a book). Then I punch the paper in my circa punch and I can carry the article with me in my "junior" notebook. It works great and saves paper. But I have to accept that my reading glasses are required because the font gets pretty small.

 

I think many printers and their drivers may have this function. Worth looking into anyway.

[Luma]

the page sequence and whatnot is exactly what bookbinder takes care of btw

 

As far as I know, Bookbinder only converts PDF versions of each page into sequentially correct signatures. The OP mentioned starting off with a text file so he will have to convert it to PDF format before he uses the program you mentioned. InDesign will allow him to do both at the same time but will also take more time to do... just trying to give them more options.

[El Gordo]

 

As far as I know, Bookbinder only converts PDF versions of each page into sequentially correct signatures. The OP mentioned starting off with a text file so he will have to convert it to PDF format before he uses the program you mentioned. InDesign will allow him to do both at the same time but will also take more time to do... just trying to give them more options.

You are correct on all elements you mention, both on content and speed. The most straightforward with "common" tools (not including desktop publishing programs) could also be (= anotehr option) to generate the signatures directly from Word or LibreOffice or ... (for instance in Word : Page layout > Page setup > Expand botom right corner > Select Margins > Pages > Multipages > Bookfold).

Should do the job as well, in the past had problems with about everything larger than a single signature booklet. Hence the Bookbinder proposal.

[dvorak]

Page layout > Page setup > Expand botom right corner > Select Margins > Pages > Multipages > Bookfold

 

(Palmslap) Wow. This is exactly what I was looking for - THANKS! Had no idea that this was already baked into some of the word processors. Thanks El Gordo.

[stefano.falasca]

I've done this often in the past using command-line tools on linux, you can find an explanation of how it works here:

http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=35

Hope it helps