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?

As statistics show that a) the increase in e-book-sales has begun to stagnate already and that b) especially the generations to come to dominate the book market on the costumers' side ("millennials" and younger) seem to prefer real, physical books, too, I somehow doubt that.
To have read (certain) classics is still a must to be counted as an intellectual. Even better if you can prove it by a battered copy on your shelf! (Which is why you can actually buy custom-made bookshelves with pseudo-read books these days - sad but true, and completely another thing altogether...)

The greatest danger to classics in print is the school system, I believe. It is so often the place where people get taught that classics are books that are difficult, non-rewarding and outright boring because very often they get picked in anything but an age-appropriate fashion.

As for the economic/luxury argument: Why didn't public libraries and public bookcases kill the book market long ago? Both offer access to books for free, and have been long before e-books. Also: When have books been anything but a luxury article?

I'm in a classics group on Goodreads and it is a very active group. We have many members who join because they haven't read many classics but want to start. They feel they need a group to help motivate/discuss/understand. We've had discussions about ebooks vs physical books in the group, and physical books win in popularity easily. This seems to hold true for younger members as well. I see it as an encouraging sign that there are still young people who realize that classics are worth reading.

I don't think the classics as a whole will go out of print anytime soon, but of course, some classics are far more popular and well known than others and more likely to remain in print.