Book Vending Machines Are the Best Vending Machines

The first known book-dispensing vending machine was actually created by an English bookseller, Richard Carlile, in 1822. Carlile wanted to sell provocative and banned books without being punished for stocking “blasphemous material.” He started the book vending machine in order to sell copies of Paine’s Age of Reason, which at the time could have resulted in the bookseller being jailed. Basically, the idea of the vending machine was that it allowed the customer to purchase the book without ever interacting with Carlile. 

Reading that this vending mechanism was in use back in 1822 really surprised me! It’s unclear if Carlile’s vending machine was automated, but it’s true that there were coin-operated vending machines back in the 17th century. The first vending machines were often used to sell tobacco. At the turn of the 20th century, coin-operated vending machines became a common device for selling postcards, envelopes, and stamps, and they could often be found in post offices and train stations. In 1907, the first gumball machine was invented, and it seems this is the first iteration of a vending machine dispensing candy, as we know them today. Coca-Cola was the first to vend bottled drinks, beginning in 1937.

That same year, it’s said that Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books, conceived the idea for the Penguincubator, which dispensed mass-market paperbacks. According to Penguin’s website, Lane thought up the idea when he was stuck on a train platform without a book to read. He is known for pushing the concept of mass-market books into the publishing mainstream, and he believed “quality, contemporary fiction should be made available at an attractive price.” The Penguincubator fit right into this belief, though Penguin’s book vending machines weren’t widespread — it seems only one was installed in Charing Cross Station in London. 

The next big moment for book vending machines came in 1947, when Popular Science created the Book-O-Mat, which “featured 50 different books that could be purchased for a quarter.” Vending machines, in general, became very popular in the 1950s, and since then it’s become common to see vending machines for all kinds of materials. Vending machines tend to stock low-cost items and are located in convenient places where someone might need to purchase something on-the-go. 

While some mass-market book vending machines still exist, these days, the majority of the book vending machines in the United States are actually for the purpose of providing free or low-cost books for children. Many schools and nonprofits operated book vending machines in order to combat the children’s lack of access to books. Though the United States is considered a wealthy nation, 16 million children in this country live in poverty and lack access to books. Lack of book access is extremely exacerbated by poverty, and a child’s access to books is directly correlated to their family’s income level.