One large sheet is printed, folded 3 times, and run through an automatic cutter, producing a 16-page signature. Multiple signatures are collated, that again normally being automatic. If a magazine cover is of a heavier stock, or if it's 4-color process instead of black & white, it's printed on a different press (though still folded and cut), and stacked separately.

To do a saddle stitch (ie stapling) at that point, automation usually requires a large print run. It is often more cost-effective for a press worker to hold the collated signatures in place while a machine staples it. In this case the a cover is pulled from one pile, a collated page pack set atop it, and the whole positioned in place for the machine.

Sometimes the first of a batch is stapled wrong. The error is immediately obvious and easily corrected. These copies should be discarded, but aren't always.

Best guess: One of yours suffered that problem.
Secondary guess: Someone's cover came off (maybe even undamaged, if the staples didn't take) and they stapled it back in place, but with an oops.
Tertiary: Someone tried #2 deliberately to get more money for a 'misprint' (which is a misnomer; it's a post-press error, not a printing error).


I'm part-owner of a business supplying ink handling equipment to big presses, like the $25 mil (US) webs used to print Time, Newsweek, and other magazines. It's kinda neat to walk onto the press floor at times.

ExTSR wrote:Secondary guess: Someone's cover came off (maybe even undamaged, if the staples didn't take) and they stapled it back in place, but with an oops.

FWIW, this was my exact initial thought when I read your post.

ExTSR wrote:One large sheet is printed, folded 3 times, and run through an automatic cutter, producing a 16-page signature. Multiple signatures are collated, that again normally being automatic. If a magazine cover is of a heavier stock, or if it's 4-color process instead of black & white, it's printed on a different press (though still folded and cut), and stacked separately.

To do a saddle stitch (ie stapling) at that point, automation usually requires a large print run. It is often more cost-effective for a press worker to hold the collated signatures in place while a machine staples it. In this case the a cover is pulled from one pile, a collated page pack set atop it, and the whole positioned in place for the machine.

Sometimes the first of a batch is stapled wrong. The error is immediately obvious and easily corrected. These copies should be discarded, but aren't always.

Best guess: One of yours suffered that problem.
Secondary guess: Someone's cover came off (maybe even undamaged, if the staples didn't take) and they stapled it back in place, but with an oops.
Tertiary: Someone tried #2 deliberately to get more money for a 'misprint' (which is a misnomer; it's a post-press error, not a printing error).


I'm part-owner of a business supplying ink handling equipment to big presses, like the $25 mil (US) webs used to print Time, Newsweek, and other magazines. It's kinda neat to walk onto the press floor at times.

Having worked in a bindery at one time for a year and a half, I'm almost sure (99%) that the error was caused somewhere in the initial setup (when most things go awry).  I'm not sure how much an error copy commands in the collecting business, but I'm sure if you look hard enough, you can find errors in most magazines.

Concerning the 1st Best of Dragon Magazine book..I have A collectors copy and a normal copy, is there any difference between the two (value/contents/etc)?

ShaneG.

MShipley88 wrote:Didn't know a collector's copy existed.  Aren't they all collector's copies?

Of the Best of.. It is the only one that I have that says 'Collectors Edition' along with the same one that does not.

ShaneG.

There were no second print runs.

We ran print one run only.

Individual issues sometimes had glitches. The printers learned along with us how to do them better.

I would suspect that any "Best of" with that Collector's distinction was a second print run after I left.

TSR produced revised editions of Best of The Dragon and Best of Dragon Vol. II.  Is this what you are calling the Collector's Edition?