Copies bigger than 11"x17"

[Hank Trent]

Keeping in mind we live near a very small city that's only near slightly larger cities...

What kind of businesses might be able to make black-and-white copies on both sides of 22"x17" paper? Our local copy shops can't do bigger than 11"x17" and don't know anyplace that can.

As you might guess, this is to reproduce a period newspaper. Worst case scenario, we'll get the 11"x17" copies and carefully piece them together with a glued strip of paper at the spine, which shouldn't be too noticeable. But full size copies would be ideal.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Spinster]

Hank,

I'd really start with local small town newspapers and see about a special print run. I would imagine you already have this file in electronic format.

The only other folks I know of with printing capacity of this size is engineering and mapping firms--in it for their own needs, and not as a public resource.

I'm cranky right now because some eletronic files of handbills I need are broken up into 8 1/2 * 11 bites--and I'll have to marry up the pieces to get the file to handbill size

[ElizabethClark]

Check your local blueprinter--they usually have large-format Xerox machines that can do full-size black and whites up to about 24"x36" without a problem, though I don't know about double-sided. Our local one runs something like 25c per square foot.

[Charles Heath]

Hank,

Elizabeth is correct, and even if you don't have any A&E suppliers around you, grab your Yellow Pages (if your area still has them) and look for the surveyors, architects, and engineers. You are likely to find one or more who uses their equipment as a copy side line for smaller outfits. Tell them you want "Bee Dubyas" (BWs) and they'll know what you mean. If they start spouting of "Size C" or "Size E," just use the paper size charts online as a reference back to area by inches.

As an aside, if you need large format paper beyond ledger size, check for "desk pad" and "desk blotter" size paper, which matches up well with those larger muster forms, and some other "big paper CW form sizes." Most office supply places carry this stuff in small quantity, as well as newsprint. The latter is ostensibly for wrapping and shipping, but CW enthusiasts find other uses for it.

[Hardtack Baker]

Mr. Trent,
We reproduced a found copy of our local town newspaper from July 10, 1863--many reports of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. We thought the engineers copies too expensive. After checking with three small area newspapers, we found one that fit our budget and was good to work with. They offered the proper large "broadsheet" paper size, color, and quality. It was a lot of leg work, questions, and follow up, but we have a really nice paper that is an amazing piece of history. So, my vote is for the small town newspaper shop that is willing to work with you, whatever your project. Our guys did a fabulous job of stripping the negatives together and printing! Good luck!!
Sincerely, Marie McNamara -Hardtack Baker -Third Minnesota, Co. C

[Becky Morgan]

Hmmm. You could call the Wheeling Intelligencer and ask. (Yes, I'm serious. They're still there.) They've done reprints for their own use and the new printing plant does a LOT of outside work.

[toccoa42]

Keeping in mind we live near a very small city that's only near slightly larger cities...

Many Kinko's and Office Max locations use a specialized large format copier/printer called the KIP (3000, 3001, 5000, etc). Tell me where you live with zip code and I can give you the address of a location that uses the KIP.

[Hank Trent]

We called around and found, through blueprint and map places, copiers that could do 17x22, but only on one side. They said that all the larger copies were that way, because they used extreme heat, and if the same sheet was put back through, the heat would damage the printing that was already done on the other side. I suspected there might be a problem like that, after seeing the trouble Horace Greeley had with his press at Winter 64.

Can the KIP copiers do 17 x 22 on both sides, or only one?

The local newspaper said a short run of an actual newspaper would start over a hundred dollars, so it looks like the best option is to go with 11 x 17 sheets, pasted together. The cost per copy ranged from 20 cents down to 10 cents at our local library if they have the right size paper, so that would make one "newspaper" cost in the $1.60 to $3.20 range. Can't give away too many for a reproduction 10-cent note at that price, but it's at least affordable for a few samples.

Edited to add: Linda just talked to Kinkos. The closest one is about two hours from us, and they can do up to 24 x 18 on both sides, but it costs--gulp!--$2.50 per side.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[toccoa42]

Can the KIP copiers do 17 x 22 on both sides, or only one?

KIPs are roll fed, not sheet fed, which means there is no duplexing function. You would literally have to flip the roll output, and good luck getting everything to line up. But you really should call a location that uses the machine and ask them. Some might single-sheet feed, but I doubt it.

The advantage to the KIP is you can copy sizes much larger than the max 18 x 24 size available on some of the high-end copiers. Some KIPs I believe will output up to 36" width.

[AZReenactor]

Good information. I'm working on putting together a reprint of an Arizona Paper and will be facing some of the the same challenges when it comes time to print it. One solution I am looking at is printing a larger run with a local newspaper office and making the excess available to the community gift shops and such to resell as a way of recouping the production costs.

For W64 I was able to get the Harpers Weekly papers through Applewood books for a couple dollars per issue. They weren't listed on their site but any issue from the war could be obtained by calling them.