Stewardship

A devotion to work carried with care, across hands, across rooms, across time.

Stewardship lives in the passages between stages—where attention replaces haste, and responsibility replaces assumption. It is the practice of staying close as a work moves forward, ensuring that intention remains legible as form.

This memoir was carried through a continuous line of care.

The work was designed and prepared for press with Mayfly Design, where the manuscript was shaped into a complete book. There, language was given structure through spacing, proportion, and rhythm. The cover was designed with equal deliberation—surface, texture, and typography resolved so that the object would speak quietly, through material rather than display. The work was held in full, from typesetting through press readiness, without fragmentation.

When the book reached press, the team gathered around the work itself. Measurements were checked. Margins were reconsidered. The way the cover would wrap the hardcover form was examined by hand and by eye. Adjustments were made so that balance would be preserved once the book took its final shape. This attention allowed correction before anything moved beyond reach.

Printing took place at Franklin Press, where paper was sourced, covers and interiors were offset printed, and sheets were folded and gathered with care. The press moved deliberately, attentive to pressure, alignment, and consistency. The work there honored repetition as a form of precision.

Before the book moved forward, another moment of stewardship surfaced. The placement of a single letter was examined in relation to the curve of the spine, ensuring that the foil embossing would hold cleanly once bound. A small adjustment preserved the integrity of the mark. The work was allowed to remain whole.

The folded signatures were then carried to Midwest Editions, where the book was sewn, bound, and finished. Signatures were Smith-sewn, covers formed and wrapped, foil embossed, and surfaces laminated with a soft-touch finish chosen for how it would feel in the hand. The cover was built to echo the texture and quiet irregularity of handmade paper, so that the book could sit in conversation with it.

Each place brought its own discipline.

Each hand contributed its knowing.

Stewardship emerged through this continuity—through shared attention, timely adjustment, and respect for the point at which material becomes permanent.

It is felt in margins that settle.

In bindings that hold.

In lettering that endures its curve.

This is how the memoir was carried forward.

— Layla