A beloved heirloom of a Christchurch family, the scrapbook was originally taken to local bookbinder, Cover to Cover, to be restored. However, upon determining it was beyond repair, the bookbinder recommended the family explore other options with Christchurch digital printer, Verve.
Verve’s Lindsay Roswell says the scrapbook was essentially falling apart as soon as the packaging was removed.
“The paper, which was about 90-years-old, was brittle and did not handle well,” he says.
“At that point we recommended that contact be made with the art gallery and archives in Wellington with a view to preserve the original, and the advice was to reproduce ASAP.”
Mr Roswell says in the hope of reproducing a copy for each of the eight family members, his company set about gently flatbed-scanning the entire book.
“We individually scanned each page, very carefully, including the heavy cover. The cover had been bound with a very heavy fabric on the spine which was difficult to reproduce.
“In discussion with the binders and the client, we then produced a mock-up, made some modifications for bindery purposes and undertook some Photoshop modification for printing purposes.
“The cover was printed as five elements, which were individually matt-laminated, assembled to a one-piece unit and then glued onto a heavy board.
“We spent quite some time on our Indigo press modifying the print colour and intensity to give a really pleasing ‘old style’ look reproduction. The book was printed and then assembled by Cover to Cover and the client was delighted with the result.”
This job has been entered into the Pride In Print awards and is Verve’s only entry this year. Verve won three gold medals in its inaugural year as a digital printer in 2005 and a further gold medal in last year’s event. Previously known as Digital Prepress, the company has been a regular gold medal winner from 1993 to 2004 and has also earned a Supreme Award for its pre-press work.
