There are four reasons why second-hand book shops will always rage against the book dying in favor of the eReader.

Simply put, the reasons are:

• Out of print? You better hope it’s online!
• Hard-to-find books can be sourced
• Different editions of books exist
• People like finding hidden gems

Before we look at them in detail, let’s take a quick look at the history of the book and the eReader for an understanding of how old books are compared to eBooks. 

The first books are placed between the periods 618 and 907 CE, while the eReader was first developed in 1997. We have books in existence that are carefully kept in libraries, like The British Library, that are hundreds of years old. Will there be working eReaders and digital books hundreds of years from now? That remains to be seen. For now, we have many pre-loved books on shelves in second-hand book shops around the globe, and the owners of these shops and their patrons will always fight for them and for good reasons, which follow here now. 

Out-of-Print?

It can happen that a book goes out of print even if there is a devoted following of the story or the writer. When that happens, eBooks will not be available for sale online. If the book is in the free domain, it could land on a site that allows downloads.

Older books are easier to find on these sites, but books more recently published could go out of print before they wind up on a digital public library platform.

In this case, readers can find the books they are looking for in second-hand book shops.

It then follows that if there are no longer books in the paper format and only in a digital format, there will come a time when the book dies when it goes out of print.

Hard to Find Books Can Be Sourced

When that gem of a book goes out of print, it can still be found in second-hand book shops. Every month, pre-read books will find their way to a shelf again and, hopefully, into somebody’s hands.

The reader who has been looking for a specific book can ask the owner, manager, or bookseller to keep an eye out for them and even find the book they are looking for. If these books were only digital files, they could not be resold in the same way, nor find their way to a new home. Perhaps, only a certain number were printed to begin with, and those books now circulate from a private library to a book shop and back to another private library.

Print dying would stop that circulation, but second-hand book shop owners will not allow that to happen. They will rage against the death of their trade, and rightly so.

Different Editions of Books Exist

Some books have different editions for a number of good reasons. It could be an addition to the story or an illustrated version. The book might be so popular that it gets reprinted over the years, and these editions may or may not have changes to them. That said, the first edition of a popular book in excellent condition can become a collector’s item. A digital file can be republished at a far lower cost, but it will not have the same longevity that a book has.

Second-hand book shops can be home to multiple editions of the same book, and a reader gets to open each one to choose whichever edition suits them best. If print dies and only digital files survive, gone would be that joy of holding a physical edition or the ability to compare different editions side-by-side.

People Like Finding Hidden Gems

It might be the hunter-gatherer ‘instinct,’ but there is a certain joy in finding a hidden gem. You could argue that it is not hidden if it is on a shelf or displayed in a window, but books, like people, can find different appreciation in the eyes of the beholder. A gem of a book is one you find when going through shelves and shelves while looking for something to read.

Though we have the ability to go through many books online, it’s not quite the same because of how the books are laid out. Online, they are placed in a section by topic or author, and though the same happens in a second-hand book shop, you can find some gems entirely by accident.

eReaders definitely have their place in society. Books printed on paper also have their place, and anyone who tries to end print will face the wrath of second-hand book shops and readers. Dylan Thomas said to “Rage against the dying of the light,” and in this case, it would be to rage against the dying of print. Rage may not be needed quite yet though as second-hand book shops remain alive and well across the globe.