Nolita's McNally Jackson Books has a new toy named William Caxton. William, seen above, is an Espresso Book Machine 2.0 made by Soho's On Demand Books that offers on-demand printing of any book available in the public domain, whether in print or not. Selling for $97,500, plus printer, version 2.0 is quite a bit smaller than the first machine that was on display at the New York Public Library in 2007.One of 22 machines ODB has distributed across the country, they are: "...essentially an ATM for books that automatically prints, binds, and trims, on demand at point of sale, perfect-bound, library-quality paperback books." A 300-page book can be produced in four minutes and, ODB claims, are "indistinguishable" from any book on the shelf. Watch video of the machine in action, below.
Whereas before, McNally Jackson would order a book for customer if it was not in stock, now the store can print one out for you right there, while you wait. They hope to have the machine available for use by next week.
McNally Jackson buyer John Turner told The New York Observer last fall: "For me the biggest issue is, quite simply, as a medium-sized bookshop we can't fit every book in the world on our shelves. This will let us provide a wider variety to our customers."
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