Around the World in 80 Books discussion

Some years ago I lost my copy of Anthony Trollope’s “The Last Chronicle of Barset” and I went to a bookstore to get a fresh copy. There were none on the shelves, but they eventually found me a copy. It cost about $ 15. A few months later I bought a Kindle and discovered that I could download the eBook version of this book for free.

There are voluntary, non-profit organisations that have uploaded 19th century and some early 20th century books into the internet that can be downloaded free. They are books in the public domain. You can even download free, audio versions of many of these books.

Though many might like to read off physical books, can they afford this luxury when eBooks are available for free? Hence, the demand for physical books that are in the public domain will diminish and it may become economically unfeasible for publishers to print these books.

Hence, the big question: will the classics soon go out of print?

Terrence wrote: "Some years ago I lost my copy of Anthony Trollope’s “The Last Chronicle of Barset” and I went to a bookstore to get a fresh copy. There were none on the shelves, but they eventually found me a copy..."

Terrence, I have moved this from "Buddy Reads" to the "Getting to Know You" folder.

I fear one day they will which is why part of my weekly book spending is always used on a classic or two. I know it will not be the end of the world and I will adapt but the world will seem a little more dark without them.

I read today that sales of books have actually gone up again this year.

Project Gutenberg is dedicated to preserving the classics. For free ebooks, you might want to check this out: http://www.gutenberg.org/

Francesco wrote: "Perhaps one day. Who knows? I personally prefer kindle and thelike over paper versions: more economic, profitable, portable, easier to store.

I guess someone hundreds of years ago complained that..."


I agree with you. We have access to so many more books now in digital format than any bookstore or library could possibly have. I am not nostalgic for paper and frankly I think producing new books in paper is wasteful of resources and they will all just turn to dust anyway.

I certainly hope not. There used to be a used book store for rare and classic books in Boston which I hope is still there.

I hope they don't go out of print. There is something satisfying in sharing a favourite book, a book you can pass on the others, not something a a screen.

We need both types of books.

Well, I think that the popular classics are completely safe from this worry. In all honesty, even if it goes out of print, I wouldn't be too worried as you could always request for it to be printed in small batches or even just 1. There are many companies that do this. The prices are although more expensive than the usual, they are still pretty affordable.

The bigger problem are the less-popular classics and the non-fiction history books. I have a few books that I have been finding for ever and although they belong to the public domain by now, I can't find even a digital copy, much less a physical copy. A certain book that I am finding that has this issue is a collection of the letters between 2 very prominent figures in the 1800s-1900s. This ought to be saved, surely?