The Biblio-Mat is a random antiquarian book vending machine located at The Monkey's Paw bookstore in Toronto, Canada designed by visual artist Craig Small.^[1]

The Biblio-Mat in 2012.

History

Reception

Upon its launch, The Biblio-Mat attracted attention from international media outlets^{[10][11][12][13]} as well as thousands of blogs and specialty publications.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Authors Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, and Neil Gaiman are admirers of the Biblio-Mat.^[18][19][20]

Influence

The Biblio-Mat consistently appears on lists of top Toronto attractions and is often cited as a reason people visit the city.^[21][22][6] “People use the machine every day, people come visit us from all over the place,” Fowler told Global News in 2018. “Sometimes it feels like the thing is just running non-stop all day long.”^[23] The website Atlas Obscura has listed the Biblio-Mat as number one among “Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Toronto.”^[24]

In 2021, the musician Jack White, a Biblio-Mat fan, commissioned Small to build a random book machine for the third location of his Third Man Records store in the Soho district of London.^[25] The machine, called The Literarium, dispenses random literature from White's publishing company, Third Man Books.^[26]

The Biblio-Mat is cited in books about the book trade, including Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany (2018)^[27] and The Bookseller's Tale (2020).^[28]

Notable uses

People have used the machine to propose marriage on at least two occasions.^[29]

In 2013, a Monkey's Paw customer named Vincent Lui used the Biblio-Mat once a week for a year and wrote a review of every book it dispensed.^[30] Lui's project was celebrated during Biblio-Mat Fanatic Day.^[31]

In 2018, the Biblio-Mat was featured on an episode of The Amazing Race Canada.^[32]

References