About These Facsimiles

Although I use techniques to produce quality facsimiles that are as close to the originals as possible, these jackets are not perfect reproductions. Most of the original jackets that I work with have problems such as chipping, fading, rubbing, and scuffing. In addition, some of the jackets I scan have been price clipped. I will restore the clipped price if I know how it should look. Otherwise I'll leave the original price off the facsimile.

I do my best to compensate for problems, but occasionally I need to do some guesswork when restoring a scan. Size and color are the two most common problems. The size of a jacket can easily be corrected. If your jacket does not fit your book, contact me and I'll look into it to find out why. I will fix the issue and reprint your jacket or even resize it to fit your book if necessary. I can resize a jacket to fit any book. All I need is the height, width, and spine width of the book.

Color, however, is a more difficult problem. At times it is tricky even for the most skilled scanner technician. There are certain colors that will not scan true to color. When scanning, the scanner takes all the color from the original and breaks it down into what is called a “four color process:” cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. These four colors are mixed together in the right densities of tiny dots that will imitate most colors. A skilled technician will calibrate his scanner to the best of his ability in order to produce the most accurate colors. Some colors, however, do not convert to CMYK very well. In most cases the technician will color correct the scan to match the output device by comparing the original to the reproduction, then tweak the color of the scan until it is as close as possible to the original.

Due to the nature of my business, color accuracy is even more of a problem. Most of the scanning is done away from home in other people's libraries. I cannot travel with our printer in order to check the color on each scan, nor would I have the time to color correct each scan while working with someone's collection. Once I return, I no longer have the original to compare to the reproduction. I use professional scanners and keep them calibrated so that most of my jackets are very close if not spot on. However, the colors on some jackets do shift and without having an original to compare to, the scan usually cannot be color corrected. This same issue applies to digital photos and computer monitors. This is why in many cases I cannot use a photo from the Internet to correct color. Occasionally a customer will send me an original dust jacket to use to compare and color correct my scan. I'm always happy to do this, but please let me know ahead of time if you plan to send me anything.

Each facsimile is a high-resolution file. They are printed on a large format, high-quality printer onto a single sheet of acid-free archival paper using seventy-year, fade-resistant inks. Each jacket also has "Facsimile Dust Jacket L.L.C." printed on the front flap. I will not make a facsimile without this imprint. These facsimiles are restored to appear as new and are shipped with a mylar protective cover. In short, they look great.

My goal is to have satisfied customers. Therefore it is my policy that if you have a problem with a jacket, I'll be happy to try to fix it. And please note that you may return a jacket for a full refund for any reason.