POD People

According to Publishers Weekly, Harvard University Press and Acme Bookbinding have entered into what could be a revolutionary arrangement involving print on demand:

John Walsh, production manager at HUP, said that the books in the program have all been printed as facsimiles of the last edition, and that there have been no changes to typefaces, font sizes and margins and the titles appear in their original trim size. To launch its program, HUP has printed 25 copies each of 100 classic titles, many of which were out-of-print. HUP will soon make all out-of-print titles available through the program, said Mary Kate
Maco, HUP’s director of publicity. Customer orders will be sent through the Harvard warehouse, which will forward the order to Acme. That firm will then ship the book to the customer.

Bill Sisler, Director of the Harvard University Press, writes in an open letter:

We will be inaugurating this partnership by bringing back into print a hundred classic titles, among them the PAPERS OF JOHN ADAMS, BYRON’S LETTERS, and the COLLECTED WORKS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON. More and more of our currently out-of-print titles will be made available again as we proceed.

….I am proud that Harvard University Press is a pioneer, through its partnership with Acme Bookbinding, in this unique and historic endeavor.

This could lead to the economical return to print of virtually any book, the personalization of printing.