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An invoice book: the most common business document until computers took over most invoicing. This particular book was printed by the offset process.

The pages are printed on three different kinds and colours of paper. The carbonless copy paper system, often called by a trade-name NCR [No Carbon Required] uses paper with chemicals for making copies. There are three kinds normally used:

• the top sheet has donor material on its underside;
• the bottom sheet has receptor material on its top side; and
• the intermediate sheets, if any, have both of these.

The text for each sheet is almost identical, except that each has one distinguishing line such as INVOICE, DELIVERY DOCKET or ACCOUNTS COPY. With offset printing, this requires a separate printing plate for each version. By contrast in letterpress printing, only one forme needs to be set up, as the relevant line can be changed on the press between pages.

Each sheet is normally a different colour. The top two get to be perforated for removal, while the bottom one is usually fast so that it will remain with the book.

This book has three invoices to each page (three-up) which is fairly common. Smaller forms like simple receipts may be printed five-up or even more.

Numbering of the pages is performed on the offset press, if so equipped, but this may not be the case because offset machines equipped for numbering and perforating would cost more to buy. If not, the sheets, after printing by offset, are numbered on a letterpress machine, possibly retained for that sole purpose. Three-up numbering requires three numbering units, and each unit must be set for skip three operation, in which the top unit will print 01, 04, 07, 10, the second unit 02, 05, 08, 11, and so on. The job bag will instruct the operator as to the starting figure for numbering.

Perforating may also be done on the offset machine, or again may be done in the letterpress machine, probably at the same time as the numbering. For this particular book it appears that numbering and perforating were done on the offset press.

By contrast, letterpress printers would usually print, perforate and number in the one pass, even on the simple, hand-fed presses typical of the late 19th century.

After the three piles are printed, numbered and perforated, they must be collated. Skilled operatives quickly gather one of each page in turn to make up the book, double-checking the numbering sequence as they go.

The book is bound by the same operatives using the simple quarter binding technique. The back is a sheet of plain strawboard while the front cover is a strawboard with a patterned paper pasted on it, typically crocodile-skin pattern and called croc board.