Thread by @nytimes

Have you ever wondered how a book becomes a book? From vats of ink to 800-pound rolls of paper, we went behind the scenes to reveal how exactly a book is made. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

To illustrate the journey, we followed the creation of Marlon James’s “Moon Witch, Spider King,” a fantastical epic that draws on African mythology. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

The book jacket is printed first:

The cover for “Moon Witch, Spider King” is unusually complicated. Most covers are printed using black, cyan, magenta and yellow ink, but two additional colors were used for this one: Day-Glo green and a special blue. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

Proofs of the cover are made to inspect the colors, and then the print run begins. After the covers are printed and laminated, they are put on a truck and driven to a plant that will print the book and package them all together. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

Next is the press:

“Moon Witch, Spider King” was printed by Lakeside Book Company, one of the largest printing companies in the U.S. The facility where it was printed runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week; it turns out millions of books each week. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

On printing day, plates of text are installed. Giant rolls of paper, about 800 pounds each, are spliced and spooled. The book is printed 32 pages at a time, and every few hours, the plates must be swapped out so the next 32 pages can be printed. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

At the end of the printing press, the 32-page sections are automatically cut and folded. The printed sections are then bundled together to keep them in place until they are bound. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

Next is the binding:

At a bindery, printed pages are loaded into a gathering machine. That machine will put the pages together in order, arranging them as a complete piece for the first time. Then, each book is trimmed and glued together. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

Next, the books head to a machine called the backer, which readies them for the cardboard cover to be attached, then to a case-in machine to apply the casing, then to a jacket wrapper machine that wraps the book with the printed and cut book jackets. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2

After all of that, copies are ready. “There is still something miraculous about a book, about seeing it,” Marlon James said. nyti.ms/3p2FPE2