Riverhead Books is looking to do something different with books – physical books.
Riverhead partnered with Makerbot to create a 3D-printed slipcover for Chang-rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea, according to this post in TIME.
The slipcover raises the letters of the title, and these will be available in a limited capacity. Just 200 signed copies were created.
These slipcovers weren’t simple to make. According to Time, each slipcover took 15 hours to print with prototypes taking up to 30 hours.
Riverhead’s art director, Helen Yentus, told TIME: “I didn’t even think we’d be able to do it, because it’s such a new and innovative technology.”
But all that time and effort wasn’t just because the sleek look of the finished product was thought to be a good match for the book that’s inside, in which Lee (the author of Native Speaker) imagines a futuristic America—and it certainly wasn’t just for the heck of it. It wasn’t even just because being the first of anything is good publicity.
The innovation is intriguing and will certainly capture attention. But how do you fit this on your shelf? Since the back is flat, you would have to place the book face out of lay it on a flat surface.
Another hiccup could be the price. While the book costs $11.99 for an e-book, the slipcover version costs $150, according to TIME.
Watch more about the 3D slipcover in this video from Makerbot.
