David,
On reflection, you might consider being a bit more inclusive. As good as the printers you mentioned are, they are surely not "the only" trustworthy firms. In recent years, I have had good results with at least two other New England printers, and I am sure that there are other printers who are as fine as the ones you've cited in other parts of the country and in Canada (Thaddeus Holownia's new book was superbly printed on the Canadian West Coast). This matter of fine printing is always in process, with talented new printers coming into the field and established printers losing their edge due to personnel changes or just fatigue.
I've never seen work by any of these other printers. In Canada I only know of Hemlock that prints LensWork.
If you're going to spend $10's of thousands of dollars to print a book - you might as well do it with the people who have the best reputation for printing it.
david,
maybe it is more of a business with deep pockets thing.
often times if a company has lots of resources
they don't necessarily look for less expensive, just high quality,
or maybe these deep pocketed businesses have been going to them
for a long long time. they have been down the road from me since i was a kid.
i know i don't have deep pockets, so i go for less expensive, and
often time i will make a book of images myself. it isn't hard to
make a signature bound book, and it is even less work to make
a japanese bound one.
Email David at the Focus Magazine site. He is no longer posting here.
Thanks,
Kirk
at age 73:
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep"
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