Longtime partner Paragon Press contracted BOYDesign to design reproductions of two novels for a historical library and foundation. Both Jewel books were written by Clara Louise Burnham, a popular author from 1880 to 1925. The books in this Collector's Edition were to replicate the original 1903 and 1904 publications. Each would have cloth-covered hardback covers with foil-stamped lettering and artwork and be stored in a slipcase.
The ten-month process involved cutting the books apart and trimming the pages for scanning. Once scanned, each page was opened in Photoshop and run through a specially created action to remove page yellowing and adjust tone, brightness, contrast and saturation. This was followed by filters to sharpen the text, eliminate stains and convert the image to grayscale. The final step was to meticulously repair or replace letters smudged during the book’s original printing by movable type.
Replicating the book covers was another time-consuming process since they featured hand-drawn lettering and flowers. To mimic the original lettering and produce crisp type, updated lettering was created based on four Blackletter typefaces − Canterbury, Cloister Black, Carol Gothic and Amador – selecting the letters from each font that most closely resembled the original and converting each letter to a vector file so it could be manipulated to mirror the original. Each flower was unique and had to be redrawn, with each color rendered as a separate vector file for foil stamping.
Once the books were printed, the slipcase was designed and fabricated, with 500 sets assembled.
