Acid-Free Paper
Paper manufactured on a paper machine with the wet-end chemistry controlled to a neutral or slightly alkaline pH.
Archival Paper
Paper that is alkaline and will not deteriorate over time. Archival papers must meet national standards for permanence: they must be acid-free and alkaline with a pH of 7.5- to 8.5; include 2% calcium carbonate as an alkaline reserve; and not contain any groundwood or unbleached wood fiber. The expected life of archival paper is more than 100 years.
Author's Alterations (AA's)
Changes made after composition stage where customer is responsible for additional charges.
Basis Weight
The weight, in pounds, of a ream (500 sheets) of a paper cut to a standard (basic) size. Each major paper grade, like cover, bond or offset, has its own basic sheet size, which determines its basis weight. For example, the basic size of book paper is 25" x 38" for 500 sheets; therefore, 500 sheets of 70 lb. offset book paper in 25" x 3 8" will weigh 70 pounds.
Although the sheets in a given ream of paper may be larger or smaller than this example, basis weigh refers to how much that ream would weight if all the sheets were the related basic size.
Binding
Fastening papers together for easy reading, transport and protection. Papers may be bound together with a variety of materials, like wire, thread, glue and plastic combs.

Types of Binding:

Case Binding or Edition Binding
Folded sheets are collected into signatures, which are then stitched to each other with thread. Adhesive is applied to the spine of the sewn signatures, and a wide strip of gauze is applied to the adhesive; the edges of the gauze strip extend an inch or so beyond the spine. Rather than being glued to the spine, the case (or hard cover) is glued to the gauze extensions and to the first and last pages of the book, called end leaves or end papers.
Lie-Flat Soft Cover Binding
A variation of perfect binding, similar to case binding. The spine of the paper is not affixed to the spine of the cover, so the glued sheets open flat, up and away from the less flexible cover.
Mechanical Binding
Single sheets are stacked together; holes are punched along the binding edge; and a plastic comb or spiral wire is inserted into the holes.
Perfect Binding
Single sheets are stacked together, the binding edge is ground to create a rough surface, adhesive is applied to the binding edge, and a cover is wrapped around the pages. Signatures or folded sheets may also be stacked together. The folds on the binding edge are similarly ground away to create a stack of single sheets with a rough surface, which is then bound with adhesive and a cover. Several variations have improved the durability of perfect-bound books. For example, the strength of the binding may be increased by using a gauze or fabric strip added to the binding edge. Or, the binding edge may be notched, with the adhesive in the notches holding the pages together. This is called notched binding.
Saddle-Stitched Binding
Folded sheets or signatures of paper are gathered together one inside the other, placed over a "saddle", and stitched or stapled along the spine with wire. Saddle-stitched books will lie flat when open but may contain only a limited number of paper, as determined by the thickness of the paper used and its foldability.
Side-Stitched Binding
Single sheets or folded sheets of paper are stacked together and stapled at the edge. Side-stitched books won't lie flat when open, but this binding will hold many more pages than saddle-stitched books.
Bit
In computers, the basic unit of digital information; contraction of Binary digit.
Bitmap
In computer imaging, the electronic representation of a page, indicating the position of every possible spot (zero to one).
Blanket
On offset presses, a fabric-reinforced sheet of rubber transfers the impression from the plate onto the paper.
Bleed
An image or printed color that runs off the trimmed edge of a page. Bleeding one or more edges of a printed page generally increases both the amount of paper needed and the overall production cost of a printed job. Bleeds are created by trimming the paper after printing.
Blind Embossing
Stamping raised letters or images into paper using pressure and a die - but without using foil or ink to add color to the raised areas. Braille is an example of blind embossing.
Blueline
Photographic proof made from flats for checking accuracy,, layout and imposition before plates are made, Also known as a dylux.
Byte
In computers, a unit of digital information, equivalent to one character or 8 to 32 bits.
Camera Ready
Copy which is ready for photography, printing or duplicating.
CD-ROM
Acronym for Compact Disc-Read-Only Memory.
CMYK
Acronym for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black - subtractive primary colors. These are the printing colors for process color reproduction.
Chokes and Spreads
Overlap of overprinting images to avoid color or white fringes or borders around image detail. Called trapping in digital imaging systems.
Coated (Paper)
Paper with an outer coating applied to one or both sides. The coating may be added while the paper is still moving through the papermaking machine, or after it comes off the machine.
Collating Marks
Black step-marks printed on the back of folded sheets, to facilitate collating and checking of the sequence of book signatures.
Color Keys
Off-press overlay color proofs made from film using 3M Color Key materials.
Color Separation
Separating full-color artwork or transparencies into the four primary printing ink colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), yellow, and black by using various photographic or scanning processes, the most common being electronic laser scanners. Technological advances in this area take place continuously.
Continuous Tone
Having an unbroken range of intensities, as seen in black and white photographs. Continuous tone images have not been screened and contain gradient tones from black to white.
Crop
To eliminate portions of the copy, usually on a photograph or plate, indicated on the original by crop marks.
Crop Mark
Markings at edges of original or on guide sheet to indicate the area desired in reproduction with negative or plate trimmed (cropped) at the markings.
Cutter
Machine for accurately cutting paper to desired dimensions.
Densitometer
An instrument used throughout a print run to measure the optical density of ink on paper.
Die-Cutting
Using a formed, metal-edged die to precision cut or to cut shapes into a piece of paper. If a printing project requires a custom-made die, the total cost of the job will increase.
Dots Per Inch (DPI)
The number of dots that fit horizontally and vertically into a one- inch measure. Generally, the more dots per inch, the more detail is captured, and the sharper the resulting image.
Duotone
A two-color halftone of an image created with two screens, two plates and two colors. Most halftones are one color, printed with black ink on white paper. By blending the black of the tiny ink dots and the white of the paper., the human eye sees shades of gray. Duotones are made by printing an image with two colors, generally black and a second color. The full range of tones are printed black and the middle range of tones are printed in the second color, The result is a striking image with more richness and depth than a one-color halftone. The image can be further enhanced by printing a tritone or a quadratone; these are also reproductions of black-and-white images, perhaps with a touch of color. The cost of printing tritones or quadratones maybe as high as or higher than four-color process printing.
Electronic Composition
The assembly of characters into words, lines and paragraphs of text or body matter with graphic elements in page layout form in digital format for reproduction by printing.
EPSF (encapsulated postscript file)
An alternative picture file format that allows postscript data to be stored and edited and is easy to transfer between Macintosh, MS- DOS and other systems.
Foil Stamping
To cover part of a paper with a thin, flexible sheet of metal or other material.
Fold Marks
Markings at top edges that show where folds should occur.
Folio or Page Number
Number of page at top or bottom; either centred, flush left or flush right, often with running headline.
Four-Color Process
A method that uses dots of magenta (red), cyan (blue), yellow, and black to simulate the continuous tones and variety of colors in a color image. Reproducing a four-color image begins with separating the image into four different halftones by using color filters of the opposite (or negative) color. For instance, a red filter is used to capture the cyan halftone, a blue filter is used to capture the yellow halftone, and a green filter is used to capture the magenta halftone. Because a printing press can't change the tone intensity of ink, four-color process relies on a trick of the eye to mimic light and dark areas. Each halftone separation is printed with its process color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). When we look at the final result, our eyes blend the dots to recreate the continuous tones and variety of colors we see in a color photograph, painting, or drawing.
Gather
To assemble or collect sections into single copies of complete books for binding.
Gigabyte
One billion bytes.
Graduated Screen
An area of image where halftone dots range continuously from one density to another.
Grain
The direction in which most fibers lie in a sheet of paper. As paper is formed, the slurry of fibers moves forward on the forming wire at high speeds, aligning the fibers in the direction of the movement and creating the grain. At the same time, the machine shakes the slurry of fibers from side to side, so that the fibers crisscross. This crisscrossing creates a web of fibers, and gives the paper strength in both directions while maintaining a predominant grain, or direction.
Halftone
A printed picture that uses dots to simulate the tones between light and dark. A printing press cannot change the tone of ink - it will only print the ink color being used on the press. This works well for printing text or line art: the press simply puts a full dose of ink for each letter or line onto the paper, creating small solid areas of ink. But black-and-white photographs are continuous tone images, and printing a photograph this way would have the same result: large solid areas of ink. White areas of the photograph would have no ink; black. areas would have black ink; and gray areas would have black, not gray, ink The halftone mimics the continuous tone of a black-and-white photograph by converting the picture to dots, Photographing a continuous tone image through a screen creates a duplicate image made of dots. Darker areas of the photograph have bigger dots and lighter areas of the photograph have smaller dots. To the human eye, the black of the dots blends with the white of the paper to create shades of gray. The result is strikingly similar to the continuous tone of a photograph.
Hickies
An irregularity in the ink coverage of a printed page. Hickeys are caused by paper or pressroom dust, dirt or pick out on the printing blanket, all of which prevent the ink from adhering to the paper surface.
Image Setter
High resolution, large format device for producing film from electronically generated page layouts.
Imposition
Also called image assembly; refers to assembling printed matter so that pages appear in correct sequence.
Sheetwise
Also called work and back. Refers to printing different pages on the front and back of a large sheet of paper, Each large sheet yields one finished piece when cut.
Kerning
In typesetting, subtracting space between two characters, making them closer together.
Keyline
In artwork, an outline drawing of finished art to indicate the exact shape, position and size for such elements as halftones, line sketches, etc.
Kilobyte
1,000 bytes.
Lines Per Inch
The number of lines in an inch, as found on the screens that create halftones and four-color process images (for example, "printed 175-line screen"). The more lines per inch, the more detailed the printed image will be. With the demand for computer-generated imagery, the term "dots per inch" (which refers to the resolution of the output), is replacing the term "lines per inch".
Make Ready
All the activities involved in preparing a printing press for a print run, such as setting the registration, balancing the color, and adjusting the plates and blankets for paper thickness.
Mark-up
To write up instructions as a dummy or mock-up of a piece.
Match Print
Photographic proof made from all color flats to form a composite proof showing color quality as well as accuracy, layout and imposition before plates are made.
Megabyte
One million bytes.
Moire
A pattern created by printing several repetitive designs on top of each other. In four-color process printing, four screens of colored dots print on top of each other. If the angles of the half-tone screens of each of the four colors are not properly aligned with each other, an undesirable, blurry pattern called "moire" appears in the final image; The term is from the watery or wavy pattern seen on moire silk.
Offset
An indirect printing process. Ink is transferred to paper from a blanket that carries an impression from the printing plate, rather than directly from the printing plate itself. Generally, when we say "offset" we mean "offset lithography", even though other printing processes, such as letterpress, may also use this indirect technique. The term offset (or "set off") can also refer to the smudges created when ink from one printed sheet transfers to another. Offset spray is used to prevent this.
Opacity
A measure of how opaque a paper is. The more fibers or fillers a paper has, the more opaque it is, and the less it allows "show-through" of the printing on the back side or on the next page. Opacity isn't always determined by thickness or weight; a thinner paper may have more opacity than a thicker paper if pacifying thickeners are used.
Pantone Matching System (PMS)
The most widely used system for specifying and blending match colors. The Pantone Matching System identifies more than 1000 colors. It provides designers with swatches for specific colors and gives printers the recipes for making those colors.
Paste-up
Preparation of positive materials into a layout for photographing to film negatives.
Perforating
Punching small holes or slits in a sheet of paper or cardboard to facilitate tearing along a desired line.
Pica
Standard of measurement, 1/16 inch. 1 pica=12 points. 72 points=1 inch.
Point
Printer's unit of measurement, used principally for designating type size, There are 12 points to a pica and approximately 72 points to an inch.
PostScript
A computer description language that allows a programmer to create complex pages using a series of commands.
Press-proof
A test printing of a subject prior to the final production run. Press proofs are generally printed on the paper stock that will be used for the finished project. A few sheets are run as a final check immediately prior to printing the entire job.
Process Colors
The four process colors - magenta (process red), cyan (process blue), yellow, and black - used to print four-color images.
Ream
Five hundred sheets of paper.
Registration
Putting two or more images together so that they are exactly aligned and the resulting image is sharp.
Resolution
In electronic imaging, the quantification of printout quality using the number of dots per inch.
RGB
Red, Green, Blue - additive primary colors. Used in photography or for viewing images on computers. Cannot be used in conjunction with four color printing (CYMK).
Saddle Stitching
Stitching where the wire staples pass through the spine from the outside and are clinched in the centre. Only used with folded sections, either single sections or two or more sections inset to form a single section.
Score
Impressions or cuts in flat material to facilitate bending or tearing. Fibers are compressed so that bending happens at desired spot.
Serif
The short cross-lines at the ends of the main strokes of many letters in some type faces.
Self Cover
A booklet having a cover made of the same paper as the inside or text pages.
Signature (Section)
The collated pages of one folded and trimmed form, making up one section of a bound book.
Spine
Back edge of a book.
Stet
A proofreader's mark, written in the margin, signifying that copy marked for corrections should remain as it was.
TIFF - Tagged Image File Format
A file format for exchanging bitmapped images (usually scans) between applications.
Terabyte
One trillion bytes.
Trapping
Printing ink over previously printed ink. Trapping is also used to describe the very slight overlapping of adjacent colors.
Varnish
A coating printed on top of a printed sheet to protect it, add a finish, or add a tinge of color. An entire sheet may be varnished, or certain areas - like halftones - may be spot varnished to add emphasis and appeal.
Vegetable-Based Ink
An ink using vegetable oil, rather than petroleum solvents, as the vehicle for carrying pigment. Vegetable ink colors tend to be more vibrant than petroleum-based inks, but may take longer to dry.
Watermark
A mark in fine papers, imparted during manufacture, that identifies a paper. It doesn't leave an impression in the paper, rather, it leaves behind a translucent mark.