Final cover design of Time and Space on the Lower East Side

Time and Space on the Lower East Side is now complete and on its way to the printer in Germany. My publisher tried to get a printer in New York, but none offered the price/quality proportion desired. It’s a sad testimony to American competitiveness that we have to go abroad for something that is ultimately done on widely available machines operated by  a small group of skilled technicians. Somewhat cheaper prices were available from Asia, but dealing with the distance and communication difficulties did not seem worth the trouble.

The design of the book is loosely based on the prototype I did with Blurb–the same image using the shadowed area for type. But Warren Mason of Measure Design made it much more elegant. We dropped the magenta type in favor of a yellow accented “Lower East Side.” However, the magenta has reappeared with a vengeance on the slipcover of the limited edition book. The message being this is not your father’s or grandfather’s Lower East Side in somber black and white.

Slipcase for the limited edition of Time and Space on the Lower East Side

The slipcase will be cloth covered with the type stamped into the material. The hardcover book, which will contain an 8×10 print will slide into the slipcase. These will be numbered and signed 1-100. I am hoping to make these available for sale on the website photo-eye and a few selected bookshops. The starting price will be $250. Due to the overall cost of production, the trade edition will be priced somewhat higher than $50–so those of you who donated to Kickstarter will be getting a nice discount.

I expect to get a production schedule soon and can then project a likely date for release of the book–both the regular trade edition and limited edition. I am guessing that I will have a small number of books sent by air in early January, and the rest of the press run will arrive  in late February shipped by boat. Hopefully, I will be looking at, and approving, proofs this month. As soon as I have the production schedule together, I will begin planning for the a book launch and other PR related activities.

Stay tuned for periodic updates.