Despite years of art school followed by my long professional career as an illustrator, it became clear to me one of the biggest lessons I learned was from my father.
He started his career in scientific instrumentation by doing research and development at Oak Ridge Tennessee, fabricating research instruments for the making of the Atom Bomb.
My earliest memories are of watching my dad blow laboratory glass, design prototype components and then machine his ideas from stock materials into instrumentation that measure the weights of molecules osmotic-ally. With such precision work, there wasn’t room for anything other than the highest quality everything.
This second edition “Quality” is dedicated to Jack Stabin.
Daedal Doodle is printed by Brilliant Graphics in Exton, PA in the USA. Brilliant Graphics was recommended to me by a printer as a “printer’s printer”.
Indeed, this book will last for centuries and will be appreciated for the extraordinary effort that went into its physical construction as well as the art on its pages. I wanted my Children’s ABC Book to be of the highest quality and details such as:
- The book jacket is coated twice, the first time to give a soft flat, velvety surface and the second time to spot gloss coat the letter D
- The cloth that covers the book is a high-quality cotton with an Asian red ink that is foiled printed front and back with graphic silhouettes
- The book is not glued together it is constructed with a Smyth Sewn Binding – the hallmark of library quality. A sewn book will never have pages fall out because of age, sewing also allows us to see deeper into the spine/gutter of the book as it will lay flat compared to a glued book.
- The end papers of the book are not mere copies, but two different graphics with complimenting designs.
- The paper is so thick it approaches the feel of parchment.
- There are two gate fold-outs and a poster.
In a machine shop scientific instrumentation is calibrated by the thousandth of an inch, Susan Trickle the woman and press guru who oversaw the construction of the book was the BOMB.
The first art book I ever bought was by M.C. Escher in 1967. My personal goal with this book was to make a book that finally rivaled Escher’s. The true fan exceeds the master, but this is not for me to say out loud, but to only dream.
That said, I did exceed expectations.
Seeing is believing, feeling will be the knowing once you have the book in your hands.
To purchase Daedal Doodle: The ABC Book for the Ages, click here.
