News

Kiosk prints copies of even hard-to-find books

February 14, 2011

Most would assume that downloading e-books would cut paper demand. However, that’s not the case at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass.

The store, owned by Jeff Mayersohn and his wife Linda Seamonson, carries a lot of old books -- 4 million of them – now that they've installed an Espresso print-on-demand press.

According to a blog on ereads.com, the store's customers access Google's database of titles and press print.

"The first book that we printed on Paige [the owners' nickname for their pet printing machine] was the Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in English-speaking North America, Mayersohn said in the story. "The original was printed on Stephen Daye's press in Cambridge, about a hundred yards from the location of our store, almost four centuries ago. There are 11 extant copies of Daye's original printing. Now any customer can own a scan of the original book."

Although customers can download the Google e-book versions of these editions free, some still want printed copies.

"For many readers and for writers, the allure of paper remains," Mayersohn said. " Watching the joy on their faces leads one inevitably to the conclusion that we still cherish the experience of the printed word, preserved for eternity in the pages of a book."

Of the 1,500 or so books that the kiosk prints monthly, three quarters are self-published works.