Biblio-Mat

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.

[2] Fowler, looking for ways to attract customers to his shop’s booth at an upcoming street fair, shared with Small his idea of painting a large cardboard box to look like a vending machine, inside of which an assistant would drop an old random book out of a slot in exchange for a coin.

[1] The machine's shell, made from a salvaged steel office storage locker, is painted pistachio-green at its base and ivory white on top.

[2][7] The insertion of a coin or token prompts the Biblio-Mat's microprocessor to randomly select a book from one of three vertical stacks and triggers an antique telephone bell that rings upon delivery.

“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.