Lost Lives co-author Chris Thornton said yesterday the surviving authors did not want to see the book - which chronicles the thousands of lives lost due Northern Ireland s Troubles - reprinted.
Interest in the massive tome spiked last week after an Irish minister said his government would explore ways to ensure the book remains available for the future .
Written by Chris Thornton, David McKittrick, David McVea, Brian Feeney and the late Seamus Kelters, the book was first published in 1999, the fruits of seven years of research.
It is now out of print, and rare second-hand copies sell for hundreds of pounds on the internet.