Anyone Print Their Own Books From Public Domain?

[Username3000]

Hi,

I’m trying to figure out a good way to take a PDF of an old book from a place like archive.org, and have it printed—for the lowest cost.

It’s fairly expensive to just send to Staples (our big office/copy and print store), so I’ve been trying to use lulu.com, but it’s tedious and slow trying to format my big PDFs to the right size, and then try to embed the font.

Anyone have any tips, websites, etc.?

Thanks.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Are you just using page images?

 

[Username3000]

Are you just using page images?

I’m trying to use anything, so yes. But whichever format I use, it basically won’t upload to lulu.com because it’s so big (720 page book).

My next option is only try small books, with each page converted from PDF to JPG, which allows me to bypass the embedded font hang-up I believe. But that is not my best bang for buck—the bigger the “book”, the better the value.

This is how much of an impediment the US dollar and shipping to Canada are for just buying a regular book. In the USA I could just collect cans to afford books; not so here haha

 

[NaphtaliPress]

I hit that ceiling once; Lulu used to have an optional ftp means to get a super big file into their server. I forget if that worked or I did a work around.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Do you mean too big file size or two big page count. 720 may be over their bind limit.

 

[Logan]

What are you trying to accomplish? Just having it printed out on A4 or 8.5 x 11 and say, would be happy with it in a three-ring binder? Or are you trying to make it into a regular-sized book with covers? Do you care about having it landscape to fit two pages on one side of a sheet?

I've used a small local print shop where I can choose the paper weight (thickness) and set it up however I like but they don't do binding of course.

Just trying to get a feel for what you are after.

 

[VictorBravo]

I used to do that fairly often. I first would run the pdf through an OCR program like Adobe Acrobat--there are others. It helps make the file manageable later. For some reason they print faster.

Then I'd print, using Adobe 'cause I had it, directly to an old two-sided laser printer, using the print to fit option for 8 1/2 x 11 sheets.

After that, get some decent book binder glue, card stock, and drywall tape. The card stock (about the same thickness as file folder paper) is for the covers. Hold the ends tight and straight, apply glue and wrap the drywall tape around the spine. It works for up to 300 pages or so. If bigger, make separate volumes.

It makes a usable book that opens freely, and they last as long as paperbacks.

Hole punch and deposition folders are another alternative.

But now I just read from a tablet. It's cheaper and easier to carry a library.