The paper merchant is collecting eight papers – Mohawk Superfine, Zen, Accent Smooth, Munken Design, Mohawk Options, Heaven 42, Phoenix, Motion and Naturalis – from its fine paper collection in a book featuring 80 different photographs which have been crowd-sourced for the project and chosen to best show off the different qualities of each grade.

The book, currently in the design stage, will be printed by Pureprint in Sussex, half on Heidelberg Speedmaster litho presses and half on HP Indigo 10000 and 7600s, between now and Christmas.

GF Smith then intends to send out 15,000 copies of The Fine Collection books in January.

Joint managing director John Haslam said GF Smith would send them to everyone from students to design directors.

“It’s the first book of its type to be produced in the UK.  It will be a tool to help people navigate the papers. We’re just trying to ensure that the print buyer or the creative has the information we need to make the right specification.

“Paper, photography and print have to work very hard together. It’s an authoritative tool for the print buyer and photographer.”

Each book will follow a light to dark colour scheme.

“Some papers are finer than others and some have a better surface structure for photographs. Some papers take a dark image better than others while others will be better for skin tones,” Haslam added.

The photography has been sourced through media and social media.

“It’s the first book we’ve produced using crowd surfing and the response has been phenomenal,” Haslam said. "Everybody is a photographer these days and only a few of the photographs have been by professional photographers.”

The book is accompanied by an online gallery, presenting a broader selection of photos, also graded by colour.