Somewhat souped-up print on demand has come to the University of Michigan library system. This has of course been in the works for a while, and I am not remotely qualified for (nor inclined toward) prognostication, so I will withhold predictions on the death of the book. Though it would be cool to hear from scholars who can provide me with instances where the original book or pamphlet is clearly preferable to the digital version.
(Of course, once Google offers an on-line/on-demand virtual Hinman collator I will begin to throw up my hands in dismay for real.)
Otherwise, we here at bibliophagist industries have marked the return of another school year with the publication of our twentieth catalogue, catchily entitled “Catalogue 20: American Pamphlets.” 372 items in wrappers, ranging across our usual array of hobby-horses. If you are not on the mailing list and would like one of the remaining copies, feel free to drop me a line. Supplies are limited — act now!
The original is clearly preferable to the reprint when the reprint goes through a scanner and then a 600dpi printer without any careful correction of drawings, engravings, plates or other images; the sample output from some 191x era stuff from the Espresso Book Machine at the U looks like a bad photocopy of the images though the print looks fine.