How heart breaking to see such a legendary printer reduced to rubble and old, used equipment collecting dust. How many books did they print? How many photographers did they work with? How awful.
How heart breaking to see such a legendary printer reduced to rubble and old, used equipment collecting dust. How many books did they print? How many photographers did they work with? How awful.
Are their former customers taking their business to Mexico or China or India?
Ron,Originally Posted by Ron Marshall
The three countries you mentioned are not the only options. Last year, I wrote and designed a book that presented Todd Webb's photographs of New York and Paris. My book, entitled Todd Webb: A Photographer's Welcome Home, served as a catalog for a show of vintage prints at the University of Maine Museum of Art. The Studley Press, of Dalton, Massachusetts, was the printer. The Studley people did a masterful job, as good as it gets. I recommend them without reservation.
I'm sure there are numerous printers here and there that will do a good job at a fair price. Good to hear about Studley!
I imagine they were outbid by lower priced competitors, or they would still be in business; since their customers seem to be very satisfied with their quality?
Yes, I suppose that is right. When the company was owned by Roderick "Rocky" Stinehour, he made decisions and offered services, such as expert proofreading, that other printers lacked. Stinehour had a team of people that were a pleasure to work with. It was a printing house that could have been an independent publishing house. It's the breadth of knowledge about books, not just printing, that is missed. In recent years, Stinehour was owned by a several corporations. They may have incurred debts that necessitated a profit margin that was unrealistic. Stinehour also had better competition in the last decade. Also, people who are younger than I am will often accept quality that seems questionable to me. Not that they don't want to do good work, they simply don't have the experience or the knowledge to be able to see the difference. For instance, many overseas printers will not go to a screen finer than 200 lpi without adding greatly to the price. Or they cannot use a fine screen at any price. So some publishers of photographic books are faced with a compromise in quality that is subtle but important. As a publisher, I don't think the world has gone to hell, but it has definitely slid a little.
It may be that Stinehour was at times an independent publisher. I own a copy of Horace Brock's "Flying The Oceans", a memoir of the author's time as pilot for Pan Am in the 1930's and 40's. It's a first edition, beautifully printed and bound by Stinehour in 1978. Oddly, it has no publisher listed on the flyleaf. Perhaps Stinehour did the whole thing; if so they did a magnificent job.
The company used to be Meriden Stinehour. What happened to Meriden?
They are operating in Rhode Island and offer excellent quality.. their prices are pretty much double anybody else's out there, though. In fact, I got a quote from them not too long ago that was more than double. They have a great reputation, and offer great printing, but for the life of me who the hell pays $50,000 for 1,000 copies of a 9 x 9, 96 page book?
No other US printer is anywhere close to being as expensive. Dual Graphics is about $35,000 and I can that for around $25,000.
OMG this is terrible news. I worked with them on a Berenice Abbott book and they were everything you'd want an art publisher to be. They were picky about image quality, talented (and sometimes grumpy) master technicians and eventually, if they liked you, huge fun. I'm so sorry to hear that there isn't a place in the world for a TOTALLY GREAT PRODUCT like this. It makes me sad. rb
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