>>if an author is proud of his book, he won't trash the manuscripts.

>Such grave pronouncements. You might as well argue that they >shouldn't throw away their drafts. Fact is, they do. Once the >book is in print, they've got a real copy. What compelling >reason did he have to save the old floppy version? It's not >as if he thought there was any demand for a second edition. >Computer books come and go in six weeks these days.

These days, but I think 1983 is a little different. And if a book is successfull, why wouldn't they think about a second edition. The compelling reason to save a floppy version is that they might want to go back and edit something.