Misery Lettered Edition: The Royal Keys

The cover of the Lettered edition of Misery features original Royal typewriter keys inset into the leather. We started sourcing these keys back in June 2017 when we were working on a prototype of the book. It has been an interesting journey. The keys are sold primarily to jewelry makers who make pendants, cufflinks and earrings out of them.

When buying the keys, they have already been removed from the typewriter. Although there are a lot out there, finding only Royal keys, and also ones that are in good condition has not been easy. This is understandable, considering they are about 100 years old! It has taken about eight months, on and off, to get all the keys needed for the project.

In addition to the ‘M’, ‘I’, ‘S’, ‘E’, ‘R’, and ‘Y’ keys for the cover, we also needed extra keys for the letter designation at the back of the book.

Key sets packed and ready to go to the bookbinder. Can you spot your letter?

Laser Engraving
The process of insetting the keys in the cover of the book requires some preparation up front. The holes that will hold the keys are laser cut. Laser cutting is the perfect solution for projects requiring a high level of accuracy, and it also makes it easy to create shapes that would be challenging to cut by hand, especially when multiples are needed.

The process begins with a vector file of the cover that is color-coded. The colors tell the laser cutter where to cut or not to cut. In the file the black circles are placeholders for the embossed circles that the bookbinder will add later. They will be programmed not to cut. Red circles represent the laser cut holes for the keys.

Here is a video showing us the laser cutting process on a sample sheet, with some random circular cuts. In the video you can see the quick pulses of the laser beam. The laser vaporizes, or burns away the material. The final cut board is then used by the bookbinder to place and set the keys into the leather of the cover.