I am always in the used book market. Sometimes it is for the Military Gardening Group, when we look up great prices for books, many of them classics in their field. Used books are seldom very worn and sometimes signed by the author. My copy of In Search of Religious Freedom was signed as a gift from the author to one of his friends.
I kid Ranger Bob about buying Soviet books on ships, because they cost around $600 each.
My latest shock was trying to buy books on New Testament text criticism, the magic act that continues to entertain and amuse. The ones at Alibris shocked me into looking at Amazon, since one site will often have much better prices than the other. Those prices are $600 to $900. In some cases, the $900 hardback also sells for only $600 in a paperback. How much for three-hold punched notebooks?
I am guessing but do not knoww the reasons for such high prices. I used to buy text criticism books as clearance items and built up a small collection of them for a few dollars each.
I found some that were reasonably priced. I wanted to have the current arguments for the butchering of the NT text. This is in preparation for a book on text and translations, after Walther is done.
How do we help a non-Greek using audience (the clergy) understand the problems with modern NT text criticism? That is easy but it takes some time.
I am counting on help from the Bethany Scholars (TM) and the reading public. It is your Bible they have stolen and returned to you mutilated. People will be disgusted by the piracy, endorsed by their favorite "conservative" Lutheran mini-popes. Remember - the first syllable in conservative is con.
Note - I am negotiating about Luther's Galatians. It will take a little more time.
