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Three Points of View
Discussing offset production of the official organ in the March issue of this paper, I advocated reduction of the page size from the traditional 7×10 to 5½x8½. The latter size would take advantage of the 8½x11 sheet which seems to be standard in small offset shops, I explained.
I hoped the suggestion would prompt lots of response – pro and con – so this subject could be thrashed out someplace other than a convention meeting room. Nary a word appeared in the April bundle, but there is the matter of lead time in our hobby. By the time an article is read and digested, a reply written, handset and printed, several months can pass.
The mails can be prompt though, and the ink was barely dry on National Calamity 60 when I received a letter from Guy Miller, who carried my idea one step further.
“I hesitate at the thought of pairing down the size to 5½x8½. Maybe it would be better to enlarge it to 8½x11. A sheet 17×22 (4 pp-up) is a manageable size in most shops, I should think – even using the plain paper copier. Incidentally, think about NA done on computer, copy printed by laser printer, pasted up, and run on a plain paper copier. A good one even does pretty well with halftones that are not too dark or too light.”
Now there’s a thought; maybe the power structure would go for an amendment to enlarge the NA.
I asked Al Fick if he would like a bigger page size for the official organ and he replied: “It never occurred to me to enlarge the NA to 8½x11. I can see the advantages of that over 5½x8½, but the larger size would exclude it from bundle mailing, a step I think as important as downsizing itself. Why go to the cost of extra envelopes, four sets of labels per year, sorting by zip, and all the extra work and additional expense? And I would not like to see the larger size OO folded to fit the bundle envelope. If it is pride and a “Big Us” attitude that keeps NAPA from acknowledging that its younger brother has all along handled this vital function better, then let pride (false, anyway) take a tumble.”
Why Alphonse, you blaspheme!
NAPA traditionalist Harold Segal doesn’t believe a change in page size is necessary at this time. “My personal opinion is that we should try to maintain the 7×10 size for the present,” he wrote. “Most paper houses carry 10×14 offset stock as a standard size, and most offset duplicators can handle that size sheet. The trouble is that most of the press operators hate to break down the 8½x11 setup.”
Well, there you have three opinions: enlarge it; reduce it; keep it the same. Do you have an opinion? Then publish it… let the discussion take place in the bundle where it belongs.
This is a hobby paper published for distribution to members of the National Amateur Press Association by Frederick J. Liddle, Prop., Carpetbagger Press, Tampa, Florida 33606. May 14, 1987