~ DESIGN, BOOKS & more ~

Design Options & Instructions

The labels available here can be made with almost any graphic or font. This opens possibilities to reproduce historical designs or add creative touches. Some pre-made designs are shown below. Or I can help you create customized designs drawing on years of experience.

Do-It-Yourself: You can create your own label designs if you have access to basic graphic software and the skill/time. This page has some instructions -- including incorporating designs from scans or photos.

Fees: Even if you create a design that seems ready-to-go, I may have to make adjustments to prepare it for foiling. If there are extra fees. I will let you know in advance.

Email Asterisk Books for further information.

Design Your Own Label

Programs - The best results are achieved with vector/draw programs such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw or Inkscape (free). You can also use photo/paint (raster) programs such as Photoshop, MS paint or Gimp (free). (An explanation of vector vs. raster is here). All graphics must be black and white, no gray.

Non-design programs like word processors (e.g. Word), presentation software (Powerpoint) and page layout programs (Publisher) can be used but may present complications – email me for help with these programs.

Bounding Box - For all programs, place a bounding box outside of your label to guide cutting. Generally the box should be 1/8” or 2mm larger than the final size you need.

Size Limits for Large Labels - Labels should have one dimension -- either height or width -- smaller than 2 1/8 inches (the width of the print head of the machine); the other dimension should be no longer than 7.5 inches. Larger labels that require more than one "pass" over the leather incur a 20% surcharge on top of the cost of label. Also note that single graphic elements -- such as a box around the outside of a label -- normally can't be foiled in two passes due to slight misalignments. Email me for further details.

Draw (Vector) Program Instructions

  • It's best if I have the font you're using (I have hundreds).
  • If you're using a very unusual font, you should export the fonts as outlines or provide me the font
  • Designs with fine details, lines less than .75 pt and fonts smaller than 8 pt may not reproduce well
  • Save your file as a pdf and, if possible, also provide me a copy in the native format also (such as .ai for Illstrator or .cdr for coreldraw

Paint (Raster) Program Instructions

  • Optimum resolution is at least 300 dpi, and preferably 1,200 dpi
  • Graphics saved from the internet generally will not work, due to inadequate resolution (72 dpi). However, I can help adapt some internet graphics.
  • Don't use designs with fine details, lines less than .75 pt and fonts smaller than 8 pt as they may not reproduce well.
  • Edges should be sharp. Turn off “anti-alias” options (In Photoshop: Type>Anti-Alias>None). If you see jagged edges, I may have to assist in smoothing.

Incorporate Titles/Graphics from Photos

Take a photo of a title page, book cover or spine and I can work with you to incorporate decorative text or graphics into a label— like those below.

Give me a high resolution photo or scan of the text/graphic you want to include. I'll use Photoshop to extract it from the background. The text/graphic then can be resized and rearranged to create a custom label.

The photo/scan must be high resolution — normally a file size of 2mb or larger. Also it must be high contrast — photos of gold type on a black background or black text on a white background work best. Email me for further information..

Asterisk Used and Rare Books

Much of our eclectic mix of antiquarian volumes is online at Biblio . We make occasional appearances at book fairs and other venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Or stop by in Hoboken, NJ -- by appointment. A few notables are below.

Book of old New York Hardcover - 1913
Finely crafted full leather binding in clamshell box with decorative leather label. An extraordinary compendium of NYC history with contents and images unavailable elsewhere. $350

Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Artists Book - 1902.
2 volumes bound in suede by the Roycrofters artist colony. Hand-made paper with decorations handpainted and signed by the artists .$95

Regional Survey of New York and Its Environs, Volume IV, Transit and Transportation.
One in a series of seminal regional planning reports. With black and white, diagrams, charts, maps and fold-out maps. $110

Recollections of an Old New Yorker by Frederick Van Wyck - 1933
Signed and inscribed by the author and illustrator with a hand-drawn self-portrait. $150

A Picture of New York in 1846
Includes a 10.5" X 12" fold-out map of lower Manhattan. 36 engravings of city buildings/scenes. In custom wrapper.$225

Shakespeare - The Tempest/Twelfth Night - 1908
2 large leather volumes, each with 40 tipped-in color plates including by Edmund Dulac. $300

Beyond the Mississippi: From the Great River to the Great Ocean 1865.
1st Edition 200 illustrations from photographs and original sketches. $105

LITHOGRAPH: The Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition at New York 1853.
13" X17" The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Place was the first world's fair held in America. $150

Of Interest...

Endpapers - Digital copies of historical endpapers including those used on this website are at the end of the Gallery. Other great endpapers are on the We Love Endpapers Facebook page. Graham Horton creates digital marbling, shown on Instagram.

Public Affairs Writing and Editing - info about my services and links to past articles

Sabrina Hague Design - Adirondacks, NY

Connecticut River Book Auction - Glastonbury, CT

Ernest Schaefer - Gold foil, binding supplies - Union, NJ

Center for Book Arts - NYC