[...]
However, you are apparently not aware of the condition of these books
in the New York Public Library. The library staff brings them to you
in a box because the pages chip off as you try to turn them. You
cannot even photocopy the pages at any price, much less at three cents
a page, because the pages will break.

Are you really so dense? These books *are* being digitized and
made available on the internet. And once this has happened *then*
you can print them on your laser printer at home much more cheaply than
your Amazon copies.

The old, fragile books that almost nobody is allowed to touch
are now being digitized, mechanically, essentially untouched by human hands.
Every significant library in the world is doing this today.


The New York Public Library has
overhead scanners in non-public areas which are like Fort Knox (I know
that because I tried to get in there). I reproduced one book using
their services but that was a much more modern book dated 1927. The
results were not satisfactory:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891099

Chess players will want a book where they can flip through the pages,
looking up moves, or carry them to the men's room in big tournaments.

Of course, it is much more pleasant to read a physical book than to
stare at a screen. However, it is also *much* more convenient to have
dictionaries and encyclopedias on the PC than on the bookshelf, i.e.
books that you don't read page by page.

A book so fragile that it cannot even be touched is useless. Also,
people do not like to read online books. They want books made of paper
that they can hold in their hands and flip through.

Sam Sloan