Today, a little update related to a post I made in (checks notes) 2012: Today in Spectacular Bookseller Practices: A Random Used-Book Vending Machine.
The image for that post is broken and there wasn’t a lot of information about the actual book vending machine, but I’m here to rectify that oversight!
What am I on about? The BIBLIO-MAT, a.k.a the book vending machine.
The BIBLIO-MAT is a random book vending machine designed and built by Craig Small for The Monkey’s Paw, an idiosyncratic antiquarian bookshop in Toronto.
It’s awesome and handmade and should be something you can get in multiple sizes and formats for next-day delivery because it is just that cool. (Seriously, what would a suitcase sized or food truck style or e-book version of this look like?)
Check out the link for how-it-works videos and enough interior sketches to inspire your own if you are mechanically inclined (and have a significant pile of maybe-never-to-be-read books).
Because as Dame Margaret Atwood says, “THIS! IS! BRILLIANT!”
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J.R. Johnson 
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