Ask HN: Avoiding print-on-demand textbooks/technical volumes

I quite like having hard-copies of textbooks/technical volumes, but it seems that most academic publishers have switched to print-on-demand, as least when buying in the UK.

The print is generally atrocious: they typically look like a laser print of a photocopy, complete with scanning artefacts, rather than a clean print from the master. Pages start to fall out pretty quickly, and, despite the hefty premium over softback, the "hardbacks" are generally glue-bound in the manner of a softback; stitched lay-flat bindings seem to have completely vanished.

Oxford/Cambridge/Springer all seem to have fallen into this; MIT is one of the last I've found that doesn't do this (yet), but unfortunately you can't pick your publisher when buying a particular book!

It used to be the case that buying on Amazon would get you a print-on-demand (with "Printed by Amazon" in the colophon), but it seems even buying direct from the publisher isn't enough to escape these days. In the UK, Ingram Content Group, Printforce and CPI Anthony Rowe seem to be the usual suspects doing the actual printing, regardless of who actually sells the book (Amazon/Waterstones/Publisher).

Is there a way to buy properly printed and bound copies of texts, or is this a thing of the past? Should I stick to second hand where available?