LOCAL AUTHORS PRINT BOOKS HERE

Larry Pierce checked the ink density on a printed sheet with a densitometer at Concord Printing.

Jeff Rose operated an electronic cutter to trim pages after printing at Concord Printing.

Many years ago Cletus Ellinghouse, a newspaperman from the Piedmont area, wanted to publish a family history book. He went to Barry Thornton, general manager of Concord Printing and asked for help.

"I gave him a price and we started working on the book," Thornton said. "He brought in his manuscripts, typed and handwritten. Because Ellinghouse did most of the editing after we set the type, it took us a year to do that first book. I set the type myself at night and on weekends, not during regular working hours. I wanted to print this book."

People who have something to say that is geared to a local market bring their books to the facility.

"We set it, lay it out and print it," Thornton explained. "The author-customer pays for the printing. We don't market it."

Thornton explained that offset printing, the process used at Concord, involves treating a plate so that ink will adhere only to the areas that will print the design. The plate transfers its ink to a rubber cylinder, which in turn offsets it onto paper.

This process evolved from a press used by Johann Gutenberg in the 15th century. With his movable press, ink was rolled over the raised surfaces of hand-set letters held within a form and the form was then pressed against a sheet of paper. The hand press remained in use for all forms of printing until the early 19th century, when the printing process was changed from individual letter to line.

The first mechanical typesetter, the Linotype machine, was invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1884. Operated by a typewriter-keyboard, it assembles brass matrices containing the letter or words into a line and casts the line as a single metal slug.

Thornton said the minimum number of books Concord will print for a customer is based on the price the author thinks he can sell the book for and the cost per unit of the book.

North Scott Publishing Inc. in Chaffee also contracts printing of books.

Jim West, vice president, explained why his company began printing books three years ago. "A number of companies operating throughout the United States specialize in pictorial histories of communities," he said. "One contracted to do a local community. They took far too long and kept most of the money. We thought if they could thrive under circumstances like that, we could do the job right. Consequently, the first book we published was a pictorial history."

The sponsoring organization gathers pictures and provides information about pictures. The printing company assists with page layout, picture sizing and cropping. The printing is done in Chaffee.

North Scott Publishing envisioned a small local market for one book which historians nationwide have been ordering. Darrel Dexter wrote "A House Divided: Union County, Illinois, 1818-1865." Brian Lamb of C-Span came to Southern Illinois for the re-enactment of the Lincoln-Douglas debate at Jonesboro. The book was mentioned during a C-SPAN broadcast, and it has been well received out of the region.

The Art of Hunting Canada Geese" by Art Reid has also been of interest nationwide to people interested in goose hunting.

Stewart Printing and Publishing in Marble Hill prints all kinds of books, including family histories, genealogies, books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction.

The facility also publishes some books and can help with all publishing aspects, including marketing, copyrighting, Library of Congress and International Standard Book Number.

The Marble Hill printing company publishes about 10 titles in the area of natural childbirth and related subjects, including midwifery, breast-feeding, obstetrics and hospital maternity care. The books are marketed through a national organization in the United States and in 40 countries around the world.

"People in Australia know us better in that field than people here do," said David Lee Stewart, who with his wife, Lee, owns the company.

Stewart Printing and Publishing also publishes another line of books under the name of Gutenberg-Richter. These books have been sold in 20 countries and are to do with earthquakes. One of the books is called "The Earthquake That Never Went Away," and it is about the lasting effects of the New Madrid earthquake that happened in 1811 and 1812.

"It is mostly photographs of landslides, sand boils and faults that are still evident today," Stewart said. "Some scenes are within 12 miles of Cape Girardeau."

The facility is publishing a book that will come out soon called "The Earthquake America Forgot," which is a history of the New Madrid earthquake.