This post will focus on a few details of some of my Easton Press books that I have in my collection. You can see a list of all my Easton Press books here. I chose a few volumes to show the detail that Easton Press puts into their books. What I don’t understand is why Easton Press doesn’t show off their work.
Taking pictures of books is a pain in the ass to say the least. Lens flare, reflection, and other problems always pop up so I apologize in advance for any and all of the issues with the photos. If I have time in the future I’ll retake some of the pictures that have come out poor. But overall they are pretty good.
I picked these seven books to show the variety in size and color and design on the spine. Though I didn’t take detail shots of all seven of these books you can see each book as engraved lettering as well as raised spines and intricate engraving work. Click on the picture to see the larger version.
The first of the books that I would like to show in detail is MOBY DICK. This volume is a part of The Hundred Greatest Books Ever Written series from Eaton Press. And it is a
handsome volume. It contains both full color plates parsed throughout the book as well as black and white sketches. The front cover of the book features engraved and gilded line work. A whale at the center and the title of the book in the top third of the cover with the author’s name across the top. It is bound in black leather with a raised spine.
The wave motif continues on the spine with a crossed anchor and harpoon on the bottom third of the spine.
The pages are gilded and the book is smythe sewn with a satin ribbon book mark sewn into the binding. Easton Press’s smythe sewn bindings come tight and it is a shame that you have to crack the tight binding a bit to make reading easier. But cracking the spine doesn’t loosen the binding like it does with cheaply bound cloth
hardcovers.
Easton Press includes moire end papers in their books. The end papers are thick and feel substantial to the touch.
This Eaton Press volume has 9 color plates by Boardman Robinson as well as numerous black and white sketches printed throughout the book. Hopefully you can see the vivid color that is captured in the litho-quality print. Each color plate is printed on glossy paper stock which allows striking color and subtle tones to be 
apparent when looking at the picture.
Here is two pictures of the same plate. One showing the overall plate and the second a more detailed look at the illustration. And you can see one last color plate from the latter part of the book.
Easton Press designs their books to be collectible as well as easily readable. They print on acid free paper with a heavy stock. I do wish they would include information in the colophon regarding typography and paper quality but with
this edition they did not. Though the Publisher’s Preface makes mention that the paper used is of archival quality and adheres to the standards set forth by the Council of Library Resources as well as the American National Standards Institute.
The typography used is easy on the eye and to the best of my knowledge is a font based on the Garamond type setting. The gutter is wide enough to allow you to read the page without flattening the book. Which is actually a great formatting decision since most cloth hardcovers end up having the gutter so close to the binding obscuring the left margins. Overall the
typography, layout, and neutral color of the paper makes it a pleasant reading experience. You can see the typography detail here.
MOBY DICK from Easton Press is a excellent example of the quality that they put into their books. So far out of the 74 volumes I have purchased from them I have yet to be disappointed.
2:27 am on June 10th, 2007 1
[...] In part 1 I took a look at MOBY DICK published by Easton Press. In this shorter and a little less detailed entry I will be looking at three volumes from their Horror Classics series. The three books I have chosen to detail here are THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE, and TALES OF SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS. [...]
5:16 pm on January 8th, 2008 2
[...] signed for Easton Press), and some special editions. I have commented on the quality of their books both here and here. Their books range from the semi-affordable (around $50 to $60 per volume) to the [...]
2:17 pm on May 2nd, 2008 3
Hi Paul-
What causes the poorly lit, flared photographs that frustrate you is your use of point source flash, causing specular highlights on the gilding and glossy pages. If you use a softer light source such as window light, or even better, outdoor light, you’ll find that the light quality is much softer and more pleasing. You could take a table and a piece of fabric for a backdrop, and set it up outside under open shade (bright shade with no direct sunlight). Turn off the flash.
Looking at the photographs that Easton Press uses on their own website, It appears that they’re using softbox lighting. That’s like a small tent that covers the strobe head and results in a very diffused (not weak) light that approximates indirect outdoor lighting (such as from the sky). This is used by photographers for metallic or reflective objects that could produce unflattering highlights, or for dark objects that are hard to light directly. You can see it used in car advertisements: there will always be a pleasant, lighter-colored reflection running the length of the car. That is actually the reflection of the large softbox, which can be ten feet or more across in shoots like that. Object like that are “lit” mostly by the careful placement of these softbox reflections rather than trying to pour light directly on the object itself. Cars are also photographed under open sky so that the sky’s reflection models the car’s shape. You can apply the same principle to your books.