Wood Richardson prints botanical book for independent author

Commercial printer Wood Richardson has printed a new botanical book for independent author Phil Ogden.

Ogden entrusted the York-based firm with the printing of his book -  Ogden’s Garden - following a personal recommendation.

The book, which uses imagery that Ogden had originally painted, represents a visual celebration of some of the plants from his own garden and combines the author's two main loves - art and horticulture.

Andrew Ingram, sales manager of Wood Richardson, suggested some paper stock he thought would meet Ogden’s requirements exactly and the firm then used a combination of digital and litho print to produce the book.

The initial print run was 150 copies, though 120 of those have been sold already so the company expects to print more in the future.

After running the imagery through its Prinect pre-press workflow, Wood Richardson printed the 100pp inner text digitally in full colour on its Xeikon 5000.

The firm used 160gsm Pro-Design Offset stock for the text pages; a smooth uncoated paper that Ingram said held the vibrant image colours well and added a nice texture to the pages.

The 4pp cover with extended flaps was printed in full colour with an overall sealer on a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74 using 350gsm Essential Silk stock.

The cover was matt laminated on the firm’s D&K laminator and creased on its Morgana AutoCreaser Pro 50. The book was then lock bound by Stallingborough-based finisher Khromatec.

“Phil wanted to get an earthy quality to the images so we had to take a look at some of them and decide how soft we were going to print them,” said Ingram.

The business also had to strike a balance between high definition print, to bring out the imagery, and a textured feel, to make the book easy to handle.

“I wanted to produce something which fulfilled my aims of being tactile, beautiful, uplifting to look through and is unique. I wasn’t disappointed,” said Ogden, who plans to promote Ogden's Garden at a series of fairs and exhibitions over the next few months.

Wood Richardson was established in 1905 and has been run by the Richardson family since the 1920s, with James Richardson taking over from his father John as managing director at the end of last year.

The company has 25 staff and a turnover of just under £2.5m and produces items including business cards, booklets, leaflets, magazines, menus and posters for a wide range of customers throughout Yorkshire.