Excitement reigns in the quaint office of Capital A this morning. Firearms of the Fur Trade: The Encyclopedia of Trade Goods, Vol. 1, a book we worked on for an extended period of time, won Gold for the 2012 Independent Publisher’s Book Award reference category. Dr. James A. Hanson and Dick Harmon did an excellent job writing and compiling the book before we put our skills to work.
Page spread of Firearms of the Fur Trade.
The 584-page book includes approximately 1,500 illustrations. Ariane began working on the book in May of 2009. In anticipation for the increased workload, Ariane hired me that fall to process the photos. I resampled the dpi, changed colors from RGB to CMYK, and set the endpoints to make sure no photo was too dark or too light. Typically, the photos of the firearms were slanted or attached to one another, so I spent tedious amounts of time separating guns, making sure their lines were straight, and getting rid of any unwanted background color.
When I started, Ariane had the galleys completed, so I was able to place the illustrations in the appropriate chapters, fulfilling all preparatory steps that needed to be accomplished. We finished our process and sent the book to the printer after eighteen months of editing and design.
The book may be purchased for $135.00 at the Museum of the Fur Trade’s website.
Page spread of Firearms of the Fur Trade.
Book info: © 2011, Museum of the Fur Trade, Chadron, Nebraska · ISBN 978-0-912611-18-1 · Library of Congress Control Number 2010921749 · Printed in China by RR Donnelley & Sons Company