When they told me last week, that what I was about to experience would be similar to delivering a baby, I laughed out loud, wholeheartedly. Fact is, I had no idea of any of that, and who knew, that they would be right? Not short of anticipation I drove up North for a couple of hours to find a small village named Wemding (near Nördlingen). Blue skies, countless road works and equally many slow-moving tractors later I passed the gates of the printing company Appl.
Having expected something much smaller – just like the tranquil village I had arrived at – I was surprised to learn that they actually are one of Germany’s largest printing companies. A friendly receptionist handed over my name tag and guided me through the corridors where we passed one red door after another. “Here you go!” she said and opened one to the so-called “tuning room”, where Mr. Mayer, Mr. Hoffmann and Mr. Plötz, bent over some prints from my book, already were debating about color adaptations. And we’re talking BIG PRINTS, one print showed 32 book pages and so did the flip side.
A tiny correction here, a little more yellow there, it was amazing to watch these guys’ ability to get the max out of my photography. But the most impressive part was still to come: Mr. Mayer showed me the production factory and with it the whole process from the publishing house’s data arriving via computer to manufacturing the printing plates, the final print and – in a nearby factory – the bookbinding process. It almost felt like I had become part of Die Sendung mit der Maus (for the ones who know), every aspect was explained in detail and I couldn’t stop asking questions…
Most exciting moment: When we passed huge piles of Nigella Lawson (Nigella Express and the upcoming Nigella’s Christmas) and Rick Stein (Coast to Coast) prints, just to find equally huge piles of delicious days cover prints… Ahhh, there is my baby!
Meanwhile printing has finished and the 216 pages have moved on to become bound into a – hopefully you will think so, too – lovely book.
delicious days – the book: The German as well as the English version should be available in bookstores and via Amazon.de within the first week of September, around the same time the English version should also become available via Amazon.com. I’ll keep you posted while I’m counting the days and can hardly restrain myself from nail biting ;)
Aug 8th,
2008
Hi Nicky,
I just received your blog address from Claudia L. I just browsed some time through it and it is wonderful. I ´ll be a regular visitor.
Take care,
Kerstin