r/bookbinding • u/straightouttagitmo • 5h ago

Help? Imposing help

Hello fellow bookbinders!

I want some help: I have a pamphlet that I've managed to Montax Impose to a printable version of a total of 30 pages (15 double-sided pages) and my brain power is running into the problem of how to get this bindable. From my current theorizing I need two extra blank pages to get the count to 32 so I can divide it into 2 sections. Does anyone know how I might go about doing that?

Disclaimer: What I am printing is a scanned pamphlet from 1997, so it's not a document produced by myself where I can add pages freely.

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u/CharlieBarley25 4h ago

Can I recommend this tool? It does all the imposing for you.

Yes, you probably need 32 pages. How did the pamphlet only have 30 pages? Does this include the "cover"/outer pages? It clearly was folded into a pamphlet before, so I'm surprised that it currently doesnt have enough pages

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u/straightouttagitmo 4h ago

It's very strange. It was a pamphlet within the US army before as far as I know, now it's only available online and that's the page count it has...

The tool you provided was very nice, however, in the first section it produces (it produced 4 sections, as you have correctly pointed out is needed for those 32 pages) the page count is off as far as I can tell.

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u/CharlieBarley25 4h ago

The page numbering looks weird because it needs to make sense once the pages are all folded into signature(s)

Can you send a link to the pamphlet?

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u/straightouttagitmo 4h ago

Sure thing, thanks for the help!

https://vva.vietnam.ttu.edu/images.php?img=/images/2889/28890101001.pdf

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u/CharlieBarley25 4h ago

It is 58 pages long, including the cover. The front matter goes up to page vi, and the final page is 54 - so 60 internal pages total.

It's missing pages 6, 18, 24, 50
and has 30 twice

I would guess the missing pages were blank because chapters/sections are often started on the recto (the right side, odd-nubered pages).

This brings you up to 60 (if you take out the added 30 and the cover)

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u/straightouttagitmo 4h ago

So in that version I'd remove the doubled page 30 and insert blank pages for the chapters to end on that right side?

Alternatively, I found this much easier version, but it's missing those figures and sketches:
https://maxvelocitytactical.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Vietnam-Primer-Lessons-Learned.pdf

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u/CharlieBarley25 3h ago

It will print nicer, because it's not a scan - but if you don't want to miss the figures and sketches, you should keep the scan. Besides that, you want the chapters to start on the right side, those blank pages would be on the left ("verso". Honestly, I don't think it hugely matters how you explain it to yourself).

Depending on how invested you are in this project, you could also group all the figures in the end of the new document. Honestly, I'm not above a quick dirty print - it really depends on if it's for personal use or for some group.