Digital BW, The Print

Ok, I'm sure this is a very dumb question, but I don't know the answer so I'll ask it.

I'm looking though a book I just purchased ("Sharp" by Nigel Parry) and I was thinking how amazing the B&W pictures look.  So I was wondering what type of printing do high quality book makers use to make their books and why hasn't that technology trickled down to an Epson printer price range (5k to $700 depending on size).  The pictures in the books look better than any B&W darkroom print I've ever done.

Jeff