Andrew, despite how others may interpret your statements, I never thought you were trying to steer me exclusively towards Apple. Rather you simply addressed exactly the subject of my post - Lulu, Blurb, or who? I have seen photo books produced by Blurb and I think they are nice, but I found the reproduction quality to be underwhelming. Perhaps that is due to standard entry level rather than higher level choice of paper. I just don't know, and I don't have time to order some test copies from various sources and do my own comparison. I have never seen a Lulu produced photo book, so I am clueless. Whether one worships Apple or not, it is hard to argue with the quality of almost everything they do. So, considering your involvement (whatever it may be) with Apple's printing operation, the fact that you are one of the world's foremost color management experts, and that you are apparently a made man in the Pixel Mafia, who am I to ignore such helpful advice on a tight deadline? Thank you.
I will add a slight sepia/warm tone to the images. They were all shot in the mid-1970s and should look good that way. Hopefully that will minimize the printing challenge of producing "dead nuts neutral images." Maybe toned like acorns is the way to go in the dead nuts color space.
It is unfortunate that I have not taken it upon myself to research print on demand publishers of photo books before I had an urgent need to know. I guess there is no substitute for staying abreast of new technologies in a field that changes so rapidly. My bad. At this point, my goal is to have twenty-five copies of a book printed in time for my client's event, staying near my client's modest budget, that at best I will be proud of, and at worst won't embarrass me.
Considering the lack of useful comparative information available online, all I can say is thank goodness for the Luminous Landscape forums.