If there’s not enough confusion around what 3D printing is and how it works, Chang-Rae Lee’s latest novel won’t help the matter at all.

The Korean American novelist’s latest literary work, On Such A Full Sea, is available as a limited edition which includes a slip-on protector that’s been created using a 3D printer. Not just any 3D printer, either, as you’d expect of a commercial product. No, this was made using an off-the-shelf Makerbot Replicator 2, which was fed Makerbot PLA filament – a corn-based bioplastic.

While it’s a far cry from the 3D pop-up books we used to fight over as children, it’s a great collector’s item and showpiece. Making things extra special is that each of the limited editions is also signed by the author.

Here’s a case of some technology helping old print keep up with ebooks – and it’s a new kind of hardcover that’ll hopefully see a few more novel uses in the future. Albeit at the expense of screwing with the way you pack your bookshelves.