“novel idea”

I saw this book vending machine in Gatwick Airport in 2008.  The company is called “Novel Idea” and won a 2007 BAA Gatwick sparkle award.  Most of the books were paperbacks selling for 4-8 pounds.  I recall some book artists at University of Iowa Center for the Book doing something similar a number of years ago. Looks like lots of “art-o-mat” machines are dispensing art, and their web site states Clark Whittington invented the first in 1997.