The company, which describes itself as "a jack of all trades", works with newspaper and magazine publishers and offers online magazine subscription and polywrapping services.

It said it has already printed between 500 and 600 books since the on-demand book-printing machine arrived last October.

Using the Espresso, Newsstand offers items from publishers' backlists, along with enlarged type for the visually impaired, which a spokesperson for the company described as "quite a good market".

The books are all paperback and perfect bound and Newsstand charges £10 for the standard version and £14 for an enlarged book.

Costs may be higher depending on arrangements with specific publishers, and the company said that for out-of-copyright books, Newsstand would make a charity donation.

The company is using version 1.5 of the Espresso Book Machine, of which there are just nine in the world. "They're basically prototypes," said the spokesperson.

The news comes at a time when on-demand services are tightening their belts. Self-publishing company Lulu.com recently made a quarter of its staff redundant.

And although Blackwell said last June it would bring an Espresso machine to the UK, it will now do this in late spring, according to a Blackwell spokesperson. The machine will run at its London Charing Cross store.