I'm a little late getting in on this post, however, your thought of an ebook that no one could copy is feasible. You can encrypt a pdf now so that only the owner can open it and once opened it can only be viewed on their pc.

From what you described, you may find 1000's willing to buy through ClickBank what you originally thought of selling in very small quanitites to the locals.

Finally, you may want to consider scanning the images and creating your digital booklet and having a limited edition quantity printed at Kinko's or other fast service printer. Once done, they can bind them with a plastic spiral for a very professional look. I did this with an 80 page family history and the results were perfect for less than $10 each.