A handful of companies had installed on-demand printing machines that spat out single copies of paperback books on request.
"Permit me, as Editress of the "Lady's Book," to request a few minutes of your precious time, while laying before you a subject of deep interest to myself and -- as I trust -- even to the President of our Republic, of some importance.
He, too, is out here all hours, greeting nearly everyone by name, asking after relatives and making note of book requests on "my Obama phone — that's what we call the free cellphones they gave out as part of the federal stimulus plan".
In the years since "Carrie" closed, said Lawrence D. Cohen, the book writer, the creators received hundreds of requests for the rights from regional and community theaters, colleges and high schools, and European companies.
While two members of the test kitchen staff have long avoided gluten, the idea for the book grew from the steady stream of requests from readers and viewers.
The most requested book of all, Mr. Steinberg says, may have been Robert Greene's "48 Laws of Power" (1998), a macho and plainspoken synthesis of the ideas in books like Machiavelli's "Prince" and Sun Tzu's "Art of War".
Around 811, Claudius prepared an exhaustive and encyclopaedic commentary on the Book of Genesis at the request of the emperor.
The A.L.A. sifts through the hundreds of requests to remove books from libraries and schools that are reported each year (many more go unreported), and compiles an annual list of the top ten most frequently challenged books, including the reasons behind the complaints.
Meanwhile, the first requests for Book of the Year nominations are coming in from assorted newspapers, I am wearing a coat indoors and it must therefore be nearly Christmas.
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