Dear Friends and Supporters, Fellow Pilgrims All!

My apologies for the lack of updates since Pascha! In addition to my work preparing the image files for print, I have also recently moved to a new town and addressing all that is associated with that process. This weekend is the final move of my furniture and belongings from storage three states away to the new place. This is the final stage, and I can settle in now at a leisurely pace, while redoubling my work on the book at my desired determined pace!

My pre-press work on the CMYK 4-color file conversions nears its end at last (!!!), and in early Summer we ran a new batch of proof pages to see how the image quality is holding up when translated to the printed page. Fully 80% of those proofs looked excellent, which confirmed our work process and propelled us forward. Some of the photographs still needed adjustments, but even with those we have learned immensely from the proofing process, and this informs our work going forward.

In addition, the final round of professional proofreading of the text sections, and review of the design elements and titles, etc., are under the scrutiny of the proofreader used by St. Tikhon’s Press for all their publications.

With the success of the recent proof pages and the proofreading underway, we felt confident to set an internal deadline of end of Summer to complete the final book file.

This will be the penultimate pre-press moment! From this completed book file we will order a final physical proof copy of the entire book, but this time from the actual book printer themselves, which will give us the most accurate possible printed output to view before going to print.

After receiving the Final Proof Copy we will be able to make one last review of all elements, concentrating of course on image quality. If there are any final tweaks or edits required, that is our opportunity to make them, and then we send the book to print.

It usually takes 30 days or so for even a single-copy proof edition of a book this size to come back from a printer, so we do not expect to see the final proof copy before mid-October. Once approved, we go to print, and I will update you on the dates for distribution of the finished North American Thebaid Book.

I am truly thrilled and energized to get to this point. People often ask me, “I’ll bet you’ll be glad to get the book finished,” and while that is certainly true, I have also deeply loved this past year and all the finalizing work on the layout and images. They have come alive to me anew, in ways I would not have appreciated if not for this detailed labor. It has been sometimes painstaking work, with a steep learning curve and many long hours, but it has also been affirming of the individual images, and the project as a whole, and I am most eager not just to cross the goal line, but to finally deliver it into your hands, and to receive your responses. And, in a mysterious way, this long final pre-press stage has been the culmination of the “pilgrimage following the Pilgrimage,” an internal journey, coupled with a technical journey, to complete the entire project.

Pre-Order Period to End Soon:

With all this in mind, I am preparing to announce the end of pre-orders at the Thebaid Store. I think it is safe to say we will keep it open at least until mid-September. See below for links and details on preordering.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have supported the Thebaid Pilgrimage Project through your preorders and prayers. You have made all of this possible, and this book would not be going to print without your support, many of you from the very beginning, through our crowdfunding campaigns to fund the major period of travel from 2016-2018, and many others since then, with new preorders continuing to come in throughout this Summer.

Now we press on towards the goal. My hope and prayer is that the Thebaid Book will find its place in American Orthodoxy, and help contribute to the spread of the ancient and timeless Orthodox Faith in this land.

Yours in Pre-Press Mode,

zosimas

Photo: Holding the proof copy of the book cover, February 2023.

† Pre-Order Notes:

• Pre-orders of The North American Thebaid book are still available for a limited time at The Thebaid Store.
• The Deluxe Limited Edition (signed & numbered, with signed and matted print) is available only by pre-order for a limited time. Once the book goes go to print, we will close the pre-order Thebaid Store.
• Signed copies of the Standard Edition (with a signed and matted print) are available by pre-order until the book goes to print.
• The signed and matted 8×10 prints are only available by pre-order bundled with the book, and will not be available separately either before we go to print, or afterwards. There are currently no plans to offer Thebaid prints for sale.
• Pre-orders will be shipped before retail channels receive their copies for resale.
• Upon publication, the Standard Edition will be available through the STM Press Bookstore, and through other online and ‘brick and mortar’ resellers.
• Contact STM Press with queries about discounts for resellers and church bookstores.