by Sophie
In 2010, the ABC acquired two Espresso Book Machines that promised to print books on the spot. And print they did! Our María, who up until then had worked in the Amsterdam store as stock buyer for the Western Philosophy and Cookbooks sections (among many other duties), soon became the go-to operator for both machines. She dove headlong into the printing-the-books as well as the fixing-the-machine side of things, and it was not long before her name became synonymous with printing your book at ABC. The Espresso Book Machine was renamed Betty, and María and Betty were an inseparable pair. (A more complete history, written by ABC’s owner Lynn, can be found here.)
For fifteen years María and Betty had an incredible adventure, but Betty aged, and parts got sparser, and last year the difficult decision was made to retire her. María decided to stop along with her. She and Betty have been printing the last copies of self-published books by local authors all month, but on 31 January, Betty gets to go to well-deserved greener pastures. And at the end of February, after winding down the machine and all the files, María gets to enjoy some well-deserved time with her loved ones.
We were able to host a farewell party in early December for María and Betty, which was well-attended by authors who self-published their books with us. There were some wonderful stories about how María and Betty changed lives for good! Tears were shed, but there was a lot of laughter as well. And cake!
Thank you to all the authors that entrusted their work to the ABC, as well as the other operators, IrisM, Lília, and now-retired Joe, that took care of Betty when María took a vacation now and then.
María and Betty, you will be missed. Happy trails to you both!
