Willie #15 - who is a printing guru?

[path4play]

Wondered if anyone has seen this before? First off, let me say this is one of my favorite covers, and even this copy has been very difficult to locate. Here is what is odd. The white space border around the image on the cover is odd enough, but on the inside cover it appears to have been printed with the cover image as well. At first I thought it was bleed through, and while the images do line up (inside and outside) it really appears to be printed (not bleed through). Was there a "bad run" and to save money.conserve paper they simply reversed and reprinted? Thoughts?

 

 

[AJD]

Since the inner image is mirror reversed from the outer one, it's not another printing run. Either it's bleed through, or someone has neatly traced it. Note too that not all of the title or image is repeated, which again says it wasn't printed.

[Robot Man]

Since the image was printed off center on the sheet, it might be a "make ready" sheet. The paper was printed on both sides to get the colors and registration right. Sometimes these get into the run by mistake like off register books or double covers.

[Inaflash]

I had a copy of that book with the right edge printed the same way. I sold the book because the white on the edge bothered me. I have since seen another copy just like it and now yours. Pretty sure if not all, then most copies of this book look this way. I now wish I had never sold my copy.

 

Ken

[stock_rotation]

It's a printing error where the plate printed on the cylinder rather than the sheet.

 

Not sure if you know what a printing press looks like, but it's roughly like this:

 

 

Paper is coming into the press from the left, exits on right. Those two circles are big metal cylinders that spin. The top cylinder has a plate attached with an inked reverse of the image to be printed. The bottom cylinder is just steel. When printing, the two cylinders press up against each other, with just a sheet of paper that flows between them. The pressure of the two cylinders imprints the ink from the reverse image from the plate on the top cylinder to a positive image on the paper.

 

If there is a paper jam or some other malfunction, when those two cylinders meet with no paper between them, the ink from the reverse image is transferred to the bottom cylinder as a positive. When the next sheet of paper goes through, the image from the top will print correctly on the top of the paper, and the positive image on the bottom cylinder will print (in reverse) on the back. It will continue to print like that until the ink on the bottom cylinder is used up (usually a couple of dozen sheets).

 

A careful pressman will stop the press and wipe clean the bottom cylinder when this happens. This is the work of the other guy.

 

Edited to add: Each color on the press is a separate cylinder, so that process happens 4 times. In this case, the paper jammed or had an error part way through the 4 color passes, so it only happened with the black and magenta.

 

 

[AJD]

Great explanation. It also explains my observation that the image stops abruptly half way across - that's where the edge of the paper was when the lower cylinder got printed.

 

[adamstrange]

Fantastic post.

 

It's a printing error where the plate printed on the cylinder rather than the sheet.

 

Not sure if you know what a printing press looks like, but it's roughly like this:

 

 

Paper is coming into the press from the left, exits on right. Those two circles are big metal cylinders that spin. The top cylinder has a plate attached with an inked reverse of the image to be printed. The bottom cylinder is just steel. When printing, the two cylinders press up against each other, with just a sheet of paper that flows between them. The pressure of the two cylinders imprints the ink from the reverse image from the plate on the top cylinder to a positive image on the paper.

 

If there is a paper jam or some other malfunction, when those two cylinders meet with no paper between them, the ink from the reverse image is transferred to the bottom cylinder as a positive. When the next sheet of paper goes through, the image from the top will print correctly on the top of the paper, and the positive image on the bottom cylinder will print (in reverse) on the back. It will continue to print like that until the ink on the bottom cylinder is used up (usually a couple of dozen sheets).

 

A careful pressman will stop the press and wipe clean the bottom cylinder when this happens. This is the work of the other guy.

 

Edited to add: Each color on the press is a separate cylinder, so that process happens 4 times. In this case, the paper jammed or had an error part way through the 4 color passes, so it only happened with the black and magenta.

 

[Scrooge]

+1 Thank you for the explanation. :thumbsup:

[path4play]

It's a printing error where the plate printed on the cylinder rather than the sheet.

 

Not sure if you know what a printing press looks like, but it's roughly like this:

 

 

Paper is coming into the press from the left, exits on right. Those two circles are big metal cylinders that spin. The top cylinder has a plate attached with an inked reverse of the image to be printed. The bottom cylinder is just steel. When printing, the two cylinders press up against each other, with just a sheet of paper that flows between them. The pressure of the two cylinders imprints the ink from the reverse image from the plate on the top cylinder to a positive image on the paper.

 

If there is a paper jam or some other malfunction, when those two cylinders meet with no paper between them, the ink from the reverse image is transferred to the bottom cylinder as a positive. When the next sheet of paper goes through, the image from the top will print correctly on the top of the paper, and the positive image on the bottom cylinder will print (in reverse) on the back. It will continue to print like that until the ink on the bottom cylinder is used up (usually a couple of dozen sheets).

 

A careful pressman will stop the press and wipe clean the bottom cylinder when this happens. This is the work of the other guy.

 

Edited to add: Each color on the press is a separate cylinder, so that process happens 4 times. In this case, the paper jammed or had an error part way through the 4 color passes, so it only happened with the black and magenta.

 

 

Sweet! So that makes my book Extra Rare!? Kidding. Thanks, that explanation makes perfect sense - I thought we might have some pressmen knowledge here. Gosh a lot of wisdom on the boards.

[Mr. Lady Luck]

Printing errors aside, that's a beautiful cover!

 

I don't ever recall seeing that issue before.