Have you ever had that frustration of walking into a bookstore, looking for a specific book, and being told it’s out of print or not in stock? One company wants to put an end to that. In a move some are calling the most significant step in publishing in the last 500 years, a New York company is trying to make books available on demand, printed out locally, rather than centrally as they always have been. On Demand Books has installed a trial machine in a central London bookstore. It’s called the Espresso machine, but it has nothing to do with coffee beans. This baby’s grinding out books. “Effectively, it’s a great big office printer stuck to a rather lovely in my opinion, but perhaps not the most aesthetically pleasing collection of technology,” says Marcus Gipps, floor manager of Blackwell’s bookstore on London’s Charing Cross Road, perhaps the bookiest corner of one of the world’s bookiest cities. The printer runs at about 100 pages a minute, Gipps says. The machine then sticks and binds the pages together itself and — out comes a book. A real book, just like all the other books on Blackwell’s shelves. OH SWEET BABY JESUS AWESOME! (via switchblades)
Pop-upView Separately

Have you ever had that frustration of walking into a bookstore, looking for a specific book, and being told it’s out of print or not in stock?

One company wants to put an end to that. In a move some are calling the most significant step in publishing in the last 500 years, a New York company is trying to make books available on demand, printed out locally, rather than centrally as they always have been.

On Demand Books has installed a trial machine in a central London bookstore. It’s called the Espresso machine, but it has nothing to do with coffee beans. This baby’s grinding out books.

“Effectively, it’s a great big office printer stuck to a rather lovely in my opinion, but perhaps not the most aesthetically pleasing collection of technology,” says Marcus Gipps, floor manager of Blackwell’s bookstore on London’s Charing Cross Road, perhaps the bookiest corner of one of the world’s bookiest cities.

The printer runs at about 100 pages a minute, Gipps says. The machine then sticks and binds the pages together itself and — out comes a book. A real book, just like all the other books on Blackwell’s shelves.

OH SWEET BABY JESUS AWESOME!

(via switchblades)

Source: how-to-kiss-distinctly-american

59 Notes/ Hide

  1. alan-galang reblogged this from lafuguedantoine and added:
    WHOA! lafuguedantoine:
  2. yeahapparently reblogged this from lafuguedantoine and added:
    They had one of these at the New York Public Library for awhile. I kept meaning to go check it out… but I never learned...
  3. lafuguedantoine reblogged this from how-to-kiss-distinctly-american
  4. stephaniejohnson reblogged this from closertotheocean and added:
    And where can I get one?
  5. ashedryden reblogged this from closertotheocean
  6. itoodislikeit reblogged this from closertotheocean and added:
    ohgrowup:wooliebear:switchblades: Have you ever had that frustration of walking into
  7. 123456789876543212345675432 reblogged this from closertotheocean
  8. closertotheocean reblogged this from ohgrowup and added:
    i just died a thousand deaths. in the best way possible.
  9. theartist reblogged this from blackbutshining and added:
    It’s about time!
  10. blackbutshining reblogged this from caterpillarcowboy and added:
    and so begins my mass-customization tag.
  11. afabulous reblogged this from mindymae and added:
    that must be expensive, but brilliant!
  12. caterpillarcowboy reblogged this from needtherapy
  13. lawful reblogged this from needtherapy and added:
    Oooo. Rule Britannia, indeed.
  14. carlkillabrew reblogged this from willzone
  15. smudges reblogged this from ohgrowup and added:
    Does this mean they can print up all the Perry Masons I have not been able to find yet??? My collection is about to get...
  16. needtherapy reblogged this from freddahead and added:
    willzone: switchblades:
  17. robjdlc reblogged this from alohanico and added:
    The thing about this (as neat as it is, dont get me wrong) is that its taking a technology (publishing) and sort of...
  18. tjpytheas reblogged this from how-to-kiss-distinctly-american
  19. loverjack reblogged this from how-to-kiss-distinctly-american and added:
    I.Just.Came. THANK YOU!
  20. alohanico reblogged this from how-to-kiss-distinctly-american
  21. mindymae reblogged this from how-to-kiss-distinctly-american
  22. foreignplanet reblogged this from how-to-kiss-distinctly-american and added:
    Remember those “personalized greeting cards” that you could print in the grocery store way back when? And how all the...
  23. ohgrowup reblogged this from wooliebear
  24. freddahead reblogged this from willzone and added:
    I’ll take two!
  25. speromeliora reblogged this from how-to-kiss-distinctly-american and added:
    Please, please, tell me they make them for home use.
  26. 400blows reblogged this from how-to-kiss-distinctly-american and added:
    AWESOME, FUCKING AWESOME.

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus