Book Design and Production
Books are more than the words and pictures they contain.
They should have personality and a distinct character that appropriately features the content and speaks to the reader. Our goal always is to create the best way to visually present your book’s unique content and provide a positive reader experience. We understand that every book is different, every book has its own requirements, and we believe that every book can be seen as a custom work of art. Whether it’s a novel, illustrated non-fiction, or an art or photography book, we bring our experience and expertise to your book. We can have your book printed — digitally or offset — and can assist with placing your book on publishing platforms such as Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. We can also “package” a book — assemble a team of writers, editors, researchers, and other specialists needed to complete the project.
AMERICAN WILDERNESS
The Story of the Hudson River School of Painting
This 208-page full-color book was designed and produced for Black Dome Press by Toelke Associates. It is a comprehensive and detailed overview of the first important school of American painting in the early 19th century. Such artists as Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, William Sidney Mount, Albert Bierstadt, and Asher Durand are featured, as well as many others throughout the period. Heavily illustrated with paintings and period photographs, this book was praised for its design. Toelke Associates suggested using a period alphabet of initial caps that was hand-colored and used on chapter opening pages to enhance both the era and hint at the artists’ love of nature.
The delicate challenge of working with some of the most famous American paintings from such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Corcoran Gallery, the Reynolda House Museum of Art and many others was handled expertly, and all reproduced faithfully to the originals.
MOHONK AND THE SMILEYS
A National Historic Landmark and the Family That Created It
In 1869 Albert Smiley purchased a rough-and-tumble ten-room inn and 280 acres of surrounding land on the shores of Lake Mohonk in the wild and isolated Shawangunk Mountains of New York. 150 years later the little inn on the shores of Lake Mohonk has not only survived, but thrived and grown into a world-famous mountain resort in a spectacular setting with over 260 guest rooms, luxury amenities, and acclaimed dining — and still family-owned and operated, six generations later.
Spanning 150 years of history and growth, this book was part of their 150th anniversary celebration. Published by Black Dome Press, Mohonk’s project coordinator was Pril Smiley, a fifth-generation family member, assisted by Nell Boucher, Mohonk’s archivist. Toelke Associates created a visual narrative that prompted a “period” sensibility, and incorporated original Mohonk graphic elements to enhance the overall breadth of the Mohonk experience. Artwork, photographs, and ephemera from Mohonk’s vast archives illustrate the book.
BEFORE WE WENT WIRELESS
David Edward Hughes FRS
His Life, Inventions and Discoveries (1829–1900)
“Before We Went Wireless is the stylish new biography of inventor David Edward Hughes, and it chuffs along like a great Victorian locomotive…. Hughes not only invented the 19th century’s most commercially successful telegraph, in a stunning revelation authors Hughes and Evans detail beyond a doubt his discovery of wireless in 1880 nearly two decades before Marconi’s work arrives on the scene! How this happens and just why Hughes is moved to suppress his own invention makes for one of the great reads of technological history.”
— Morgan Wesson, Writer, Journalist and Filmmaker
Published by Images from the Past in Bennington, Vermont, (a publishing client since 1998), Toelke Associates consulted on, designed, and produced this 400-page book. Published originally in hardcover with dustjacket, it was recently released again in softcover. Filled with nearly 100 period illustrations and photographs as well as specially-commissioned technical drawings, all were edited as needed for the project during the extensive page layout process.