Nightmare of book-lovers all over the world.
During the last decades, the shelf life of books has constantly been decreasing, titles that do not sell sell are just pulped after a couple of months.
Lost.
Gone.
An ex-book.
Even if this is of no importance to people whose interest in reading died after Run, Spot, Run !, getting to know that a book is out of print can seriously hinder most kinds of research. Some books even have such a limted readership that not even a print on demand scheme would make sense - which means you either are lucky enough to locate a copy somewhere (Thank you for the pointers, jessicapierce !) or even visit a well-stocked library in some obscure country.
But the out-of-print issue also applies to daily, recreational reading. Imagine a book you read thirty years ago and want to read again.
My bet is - it will be out of print.
Want to read a famous SF author's first works ?
Of course, out of print !