I have actually looked for them from time to time. Locally I can't find anything and via amazon while I can find them I can't seem to ever be looking when there are good quality copies going for reasonable prices.
Same goes for planescape stuff. thankfully my girlfriend managed to snag a copy of the campaign setting box set for $30! and it's in nearly perfect shape! best birthday present yet.
It's a crapshoot. I recently found pretty much all of them - PHB, DMG, MM I & II, Fiend Folio, Legends & Lore, Dungeoneer's Guide, Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures - sitting on a used book store shelf while looking for some white wolf stuff on a lark. I bought everything but OA, L&L and the PHB, as thy were prohibitively priced and I want to buy the reprints specifically.
Any other time I've come to this same shop? Nothing. Bunch of useless 2e stuff that everyone read, took notes out of and discarded (fighter's handbook, arms & equipment, etc.). I suspect that some folks, in light of the new reprints, are clearing their shelves. Now is the time to look for the originals.
Just as a personal note, I consider 2e to be my edition as of all of the ones I played (starting with Holmes) its the one i got the most fun out of. Despite that and 1e being far from a favorite of mine, I still want these books, if only to reward smarts.
I only wish they were the nigh indestructible hardcover of the originals.
I've found that until 4e, each new edition supplied new tools for players to get exactly what they've been clamoring for, without changing the fundamental feel of the game. I started with 1e, and moving to 2e didn't change so much as clarify things for me. Could I be a necromancer? What if my priest worshipped a war god? What if I tried this clever tactic? Each edition took these thoughts into account, it seemed, so that the Dungeon Master would have room to say "yes, but here is how it will work" to smooth things over. From subclasses, to kits, to prestige classes, even.
-
Myself, I hope this is indicative of a trend. Even if little more than a bone tossed out to keep cash flowing between projects, I wouldn't mind seeing more in this vein. Modules in a bundle would be nice. Stuff like Unearthed Arcana and the Dungeoneer's Guide as the next print run. Etc.
Sure it's a long shot. But one could easily expect WotC employees to be combing threads like this one to see what the general feel of the masses is.