The Mosaic Handbook for the Macintosh

By Richard Koman, Dale Dougherty

Cover | Colophon

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The image on the cover of The Mosaic Handbook for the Macintosh is adapted from Winslow Homer's 1886 painting, "Eight Bells!" Eight bells was the call made when a navigator's four-hour watch ended. Before leaving watch, a final sextant reading was taken and recorded.

The sextant is an instrument used to determine latitude and longitude by measuring the angle between the horizon and the sun, or any other celestial body. Two people independently invented the sextant, in about 1730: John Hadley, an English mathematician, and Thomas Godfrey, an American inventor. Employing a telescope and two mirrors, the angle of the celestial object is measured on an arc of one-sixth of a circle. Measurement of angles up to 120 degrees are possible.

Prior to the invention of the sextant, the quadrant was used for determining latitude. The quadrant was invented by the navigators who were employed by the Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator. Prince Henry, and the navigators and cosmographers whom he gathered around him, are credited with many of the navigational advances that helped to push forward the Age of Exploration. He is also credited with the legendary refusal of some men to stop and ask for directions. Ironically, Prince Henry himself never left Portugal. ...

Edie Freedman designed this cover. The cover image is adapted from a 19th-century engraving from the Bettman Archives. The cover layout was produced with Quark XPress 3.3 using the ITC Garamond font.

The inside formats were designed by Edie Freedman and implemented in sqtroff by Lenny Muellner. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were created in Aldus Freehand by Chris Reilley, and the screenshots were processed in Adobe PhotoShop using Photomatic. This colophon was written by Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary.

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