VALUE A term used when describing the darkness or lightness of a color. See also HIGH LIGHTS; PRESS PROOF; TINT; TONE

VANITY PRESS A publisher that specializes in the publication of books for which their authors pay all or most of the expenses. A Vanity Press accepts all manuscripts submitted, provides little or no editing, and exercises only limited marketing and selling effort to an attempt to sell the books. The author often pays significantly in order to become a published author, but does receive a very high royalty - typically 40 percent of the selling price. Also termed subsidy press.

Vanity presses are perceived as being publishers for authors, who are unable to have their books published by conventional publishers. Many booksellers are reluctant to accept titles published by vanity press. Similarly, many reviewers are reluctant to review them. Vanity presses are also called subsidy presses or vanity publishers. See also EDITING; MANUSCRIPT; ROYALTY; SELF-PUBLISHER

VARIABLE COST Any expense, which varies directly with production, revenue, or other measurement of business volume. The variable costs of book production include the expense of paper, ink, and binding. The fixed costs include rent, heat, electricity, and maintenance expense for the printing plant and binding department, In contrast to variable costs, fixed costs are relatively firm or unchanging in amount and are incurred regardless of the level of volume or income. See also BREAK-EVEN POINT; DIRECT COSTS; FIXED COSTS; UNIT COST

VARIABLE PITCH Another term for proportional pitch. See also FIXED-PITCH PITCH; PROPORTIONAL FONT

VARIABLE TEXT Pre-entered material that is added to standard text to complete a document. For example, names and addresses held in a database constitute variable text. They can be added to a form letter to create a more personalized mailing. See also BOILERPLATE; TEXT

VARIANTS In bookbinding, a word used in reference to the variety or diversity of different bindings or end papers in a printing run or issue. For example, one variant may be a cover on which the book title appears in red, whereas another may be a cover on which the title appears in gold. See also BINDING; END PAPERS; FIRST EDITION; ISSUE; LIBRARY BINDING

VARNISH A clear liquid applied to the printed surfaces of books and other printed pieces in order to create a thin glossy protective coating or a special effect. Varnish is the vehicle component of common printing inks. In effect, it is ink without a pigment. Varnish is usually applied on the printing press. See also GLOSSY FINISH; INK; LACQUER; PIGMENT; SPOT VARNISH; UV COATING;VEHICLE

VARNISHING A finishing step in which a clear varnish is applied to the surface of a printed sheet in order to create a glossy finish. The varnish is usually applied on the printing press. See also FINISH; FINISHING OPERATIONS; GLOSS; VARNISH

VEGETABLE PARCHMENT A packaging material that has a very high wet and dry strength and is impermeable to grease. Vegetable parchment is produced from an absorbing, pure, bleached chemical pulp. Vegetable parchment is also called parchment paper. See also CHEMICAL PULP; PARCHMENT

VEHICLE The liquid component of a printing ink. It carries a mixture of varnish, waxes, dryers, pigment, etc., which determine the flow, drying time, and adhesion of the pigments to the surface of the paper. The vehicle evaporates and/or is absorbed, leaving the pigment behind on the paper. See also ABSORPTION; INK; PIGMENT; VARNISH

VELLUM A calfskin, kidskin, lambskin, etc. that is finer than parchment and has been treated for use as a writing material or binding books. Also, a manuscript on vellum. Medieval manuscripts were usually written on vellum. See also CALF; MANUSCRIPT; PARCHMENT

VELLUM FINISH A toothy paper finish that is rougher than English, but smoother than antique, and absorbs ink quickly. See also ENGLISH FINISH; PAPER; TOOTH

VELLUM PAPER A thick creamy, bulky book paper that resembles vellum. It has a rough finish with a bit of tooth. Imitation vellum. See also BULK; TOOTH; VELLUM

VENDOR A supplier of goods or services. Printers and service bureaus are examples. In order to sell to large distributors, it is sometimes necessary to have a "vendor number." In such instances, the vendor number should be obtained from the distributor before attempting to make a sales presentation. See also DISTRIBUTOR; PRINTER; SERVICE BUREAU

VELOX See SCREENED PRINT

VERSO In printing, the left, even-numbered page of a folded sheet or of two facing pages of a book or publication. The verso page is the second (or reverse) side of a leaf. It is opposite a recto, the right-hand page. See also LEAF; RECTO

VERTICAL JUSTIFCATION The alignment of newspaper columns so that all text will end evenly along the margin at the bottom of the page (or other point on the page). This is accomplished by feathering (adding vertical space). The interline spacing (leading) is adjusted in fine increments to cause columns and page ends to finish at he same point on the page. That is, the vertical spaces between frame borders and text, between paragraphs, and between lines, are adjusted in order to cause the columns and pages to align evenly across the top and bottom margins. Some word processors and desktop publishing systems perform this automatically. See also FEATHERING; JUSTIFICATION; LEADING; WORD PROCESSING

VIGNETTE An image that bleeds gradually away into the background. Also, a small design or illustration in a book or other publication that has no surrounding border. The colors gradually fade away and blend into the surrounding page area. In prepress, vignette is often used to denote a continuous gradation of colors. See also BLEED; GRADATION; IMAGE; PREPRESS

VIRGULE A short diagonal slash or solidus (/) used between two words to indicate that either may be selected to complete the sentence in which it appears. It is also used as a dividing line in fractions or dates. See also PUNCTUATION; SLASH; SOLIDUS

VIRTUAL PRINTER A feature of many operating systems that saves output to a file until the printer becomes available. See also FILE; OUTPUT

VISCOSITY A term used to describe a liquid's resistance to flow. The properties of tack and flow in printing inks. A thinner ink has less viscosity, whereas a thicker ink has more viscosity. See also BODY; EXTENDER; INK; TACK

VISUAL An adjective which, when used as a noun, means artwork See also ARTWORK