Plus, the physical copy of the book has additional value in terms of forensic verifiability. You can prove the originality of the text and the absence of alterations, and can easily track changes between editions.
Digital copies can be altered at whim, as the only means to provide any sort of tracking or verifiability is through another external software system that itself has to be trusted.
This is entirely untrue.
Simple example:
Actual book from 1732 (rare, original, older than your country): https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Compleat-City-... -- yours for £1,258.00
A scan of the same edition of that book: https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-compl... -- free. Nobody's paying any money for the digital copy.
I don't think you understand the book itself is a collectible object with rarity and value, regardless of the information it contains.
Plus, the physical copy of the book has additional value in terms of forensic verifiability. You can prove the originality of the text and the absence of alterations, and can easily track changes between editions.
Digital copies can be altered at whim, as the only means to provide any sort of tracking or verifiability is through another external software system that itself has to be trusted.
NFT's