bookslover
Puritan Board Doctor
I was talking with an employee at my favorite new/used bookshop (Archives, in Pasadena, California) the other day. He's been in the business for 27 years. Some tidbits:
1. I said that, back in the '80s, I used to see scads of copies of the volumes in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges series (late 19th/early 20th centuries). He told me those seem to have dried up. "We don't see many of those anymore."
2. The store has several complete sets of Keil and Delitzsch. He remarked that, since that series of OT commentaries went digital, sales of the hardback sets have pretty well died out.
3. He also said that, when people come in to buy Karl Barth's massive Church Dogmatics, they almost invariably buy the hardback set because the price for the paperback set is so high that most folks figure that the hardbacks are worth the little-bit higher price.
4. When I was there, I saw a beautiful complete set of the University of California edition (10 volumes, originally published 1953-1962, and republished as a set in 1984) of the Complete Sermons of John Donne. Each volume was in perfect condition - not a mark on them. Even the dust jackets (all 10 volumes had them) were immaculate. The store's asking price: $450 for the set. (Heh)
Just some news from the local Christian bookshop business...
1. I said that, back in the '80s, I used to see scads of copies of the volumes in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges series (late 19th/early 20th centuries). He told me those seem to have dried up. "We don't see many of those anymore."
2. The store has several complete sets of Keil and Delitzsch. He remarked that, since that series of OT commentaries went digital, sales of the hardback sets have pretty well died out.
3. He also said that, when people come in to buy Karl Barth's massive Church Dogmatics, they almost invariably buy the hardback set because the price for the paperback set is so high that most folks figure that the hardbacks are worth the little-bit higher price.
4. When I was there, I saw a beautiful complete set of the University of California edition (10 volumes, originally published 1953-1962, and republished as a set in 1984) of the Complete Sermons of John Donne. Each volume was in perfect condition - not a mark on them. Even the dust jackets (all 10 volumes had them) were immaculate. The store's asking price: $450 for the set. (Heh)
Just some news from the local Christian bookshop business...