Felicity Woods, editorial assistant at the Bookseller.com has written a nice piece today about witnessing the Espresso Book Machine up close and personal at Blackwell’s London book store.

“Up close and personal it is as if the Gutenberg Press met with Willy Wonka, and the chocolatier come out on top.”

You can read Felicity’s full Espresso experience here.

Lightning Source have also just launched a pilot program for publishers to use the Espresso Book Machine.

Lightning Source clients who will use this service include Simon & Schuster, John Wiley & Sons, Hachette Book Group, McGraw-Hill, Macmillan, University of California Press and Norton. The pilot program will make 85,000 titles available at Espresso Book Machine locations across the country, starting next month.

The machine will be on display at Lightning Source’s stand at next week’s London Book Fair.