The Printing Press
   
Judges Guild products were printed at two or more companies.

Wood Printing

2005 East Olive Street, Decatur, IL (Illinois) 62526-5136

From Bill Owen:  "Mainly did the 34"x44" map in 4 sections and d-tac cards."

Allied American Graphics

Closed and building gone; Keith Phillips--he died decades ago.  Southside Dr., Decatur, IL

From Bill Owen:  "Did the Guide to CS, installment booklets, maps (up thru first Wilderlands)."

Abbott & Foran

Closed but building still there; Bob Bridgman--he may still be around.  ML King Jr Dr., Decatur, IL

From Bill Owen:  "They did 22x28" cs map, Judges Shields and later Wilderlands maps.

K.K. Stevens Publishing Co.

From Bill Owen:  "I'm pretty sure that Campaign Hex or Wilderlands was the first product and then K.K. Stevens Publishing Co. did nearly all of them from then on... Although some did not have self-covers like these two (Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor had a separate cover, probably done at Abbott & Foran but the rest of the book's pages were all via K.K. Stevens Publishing Co.).  Around the same time the format went from the legal sized newsletter sheet to the much larger tabloid newsprint journals - lots more room for material!
KK Stevens walked into the mall and said that he wanted my business badly because he wanted his D&D playing son to see that working in the family business could still give him a connection to games.
It blew our socks off how much printed paper we could buy so little money if we bought in quantities of 3000-5000."

On its history and methods used back in the late 70's early 80's.  Thanks to Tom Stevens for help with this info:

1.  The local newspaper "The Argus" dates back to the 1800's.  Ken and Mary Ann Stevens purchased this paper in 1959.  In the early 60's they began printing for other newspapers and as of today we print many books, magazines, catalogs, newspapers, and other such multi-page products.  We are now second-generation with the direct involvement of 2 sons and 1 daughter of Ken and Mary Ann Stevens.

2.  We never printed on the pebble-finished paper.  I believe that printing was done at a local sheetfed printer in Decatur.  We use web offset presses rather than sheetfed presses.  This means less of a choice of paper, but the printing cost is more economical for multi-page products.

3.  All material was supplied to us "Camera-Ready", meaning that all copy would be in place and ready to be reproduced on our graphic arts camera.  Color was especially difficult then as opposed to now.  What is now done using Adobe Photoshop was then either done manually or with a computer system costing several hundred thousand dollars.

International Paper on its history and Hammermill paper used back in the late 70's early 80's.

Hammermill Paper did offer a parchment type paper, along with a several products that featured a textured like surface.  Hammermill Bond did have a product called Rippletone which did have a pebble like appearance, however, we can not verify the available colors.  Products without the watermark may also have been a product offered by the Fine Papers division.

The Hammermill Bond most likely featured a watermark from the time the company was founded in 1898.  Over the years the design has changed; however, we do not have available an archive of the various designs through the years at this location.  Penn State University, the Behrend Campus in Erie, PA, has archived information regarding Hammermill and its history over the years.  Erie is the original home of Hammermill Paper Company, founded by Ernst and Otto Behrend.

Troy Laminating & Coating Inc

1914: Gummed Products Co. started business
Mid 1950's: St. Regis Paper Co. acquired Gummed Products and added to Laminated & Coated Products Div. (L&CP)
1986: Champion Paper acquired St. Regis and sold L&CP to European licensee Frantschach
1989: Ivex Packaging acquired L&CP and create Industrial Products Division
2000: Chargeurs acquired Newton, MA; Bellwood, IL; and Troy, OH operations of Industrial Products Div. of Ivex Packaging
Today: Troy Operation named Troy Laminating & Coating Inc.

John Larkin on copiers in the late 70's and 80's.

The copiers available in the late 70's were drum copiers where the ink was loaded manually from a bottle.  When you made a copy of a copy, it became darker, not lighter.  In the late 80's, they came up with cartridge copiers.  These made successive copies lighter.