ABSTRACT
While there will be people who want a first edition or a beautifully bound volume, a book is generally appreciated for its contents. Its real value lies in the ideas and concepts conveyed by its words. It does not matter whether these words – by Plato or Aquinas, Swift or Dickens, or any other – are contained in a leather-bound tome or a cheap paperback. Such works can be written by hand, copied by hand, typed into a computer, scanned or photocopied. They can be read in books and on screens and are endlessly reproducible. This characteristic of the written word enables creative works in this medium to be affordable and accessible to all.
