Hang Onto Those Books – And Other Bits of Bibliophilic Advice

Some volumes are well worth keeping around:

OK, another piece about books – and mainly about theological books. So that might rule out most of my readership! But for those few brave souls still with me, you might find something of value in this piece. If nothing else, it might help you become a little bit wealthier – but more on that in a moment.

Some books can be worth a fair bit of money for various reasons. Often out of print volumes can command a hefty sum. Hard to find books, rare books, and first editions can all be worth a lot of money. I am a book lover, but very few volumes that I have – or am looking for – are worth kazillions. While I love going to second-hand bookshops, I rarely go to antiquarian bookstores – there is a difference between the two, and it usually has to do with price!

But now and then I am after a particular volume that seems hard to find, and when I do come upon it, it can be rather expensive. Usually I can find what I am looking for, thanks to online bookstores and the like. (It took much more effort in the old days before the internet – then you had to physically scour used bookstores.)

Given that I have a pretty good library, there are not all that many books I am still desperately searching for. Sometimes the only volumes that I am after are those that have been pulled (withdrawn) by a publisher. This can happen for various reasons, as when some problem arises concerning the author – perhaps a moral or criminal matter.

And charges of plagiarism and the like can also arise which causes some publishers to no longer sell a book. This can impact me now and then. For example, I am a bit of a stickler for complete sets, and missing one or two volumes in a set can send me searching far and wide. Case in point: I lack one volume in a 40-volume expository commentary series – it is now out of print.

I just did an online search for it. There was some good news: I found some copies that still exist. But there was some ridiculously bad news as well: one bookshop had it available for a mere $2,052.46! Yikes. I may not like having incomplete sets, but I like even less spending a small fortune on one lousy volume!

For those desperately wondering what the volume in question is, I can spill the beans: Derek W. H. Thomas, Acts – in the Reformed Expository Commentary series (P & R Publishing, 2012). The publisher had withdrawn it due to some claims of plagiarism.

I mentioned this on the social media. I said if anyone has a copy that they are eager to get rid of, I know just the fellow they should contact! Of course if they are a wonderful and godly Christians, they will say, ‘Here it is gratis Bill – I know how much you wanted it’!

But if you are a real stinker – or a shrewd businessman – you might offer it to me for a price: a very hefty price. So if you do have it at least be aware that you have a valuable little volume right there. Whatever you do, do not put it out in a garage sale for 75 cents, or trade it for a can of Coke!

I am aware of similar such stories, but fortunately for me I already have the volumes. Australian New Testament scholar Peter O’Brien had suffered a similar fate. I have four of his commentaries: Colossians, Philemon (WBC); The Epistle to the Philippians (NIGTC); The Letter to the Ephesians (PNTC); The Letter to the Hebrews (PNTC).

There were also claims of plagiarism for the last three of those, so they were all withdrawn by the publisher (Eerdmans). I just looked up his Hebrews commentary – some copies are still available, and they are going anywhere from $400 to $1400!! I am glad I own copies of all three of the pulled books!

Ten years ago I wrote about the O’Brien issue. If you want to learn more about what had happened, see my piece here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/08/18/writing-commentaries-problems-thereof/

And if you want to learn more about the REC series that I mentioned above, you can have a look at this article: https://billmuehlenberg.com/…/on-expository-commentaries/

Similar issues can be said about the late Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias. Soon after he passed away his publishers pulled his books. It had nothing to do with plagiarism, but with some moral failing that he was said to have been involved in later in his life. I discussed this at the time here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/02/14/on-fallen-christian-leaders/

Now I happen to have all of the books that he wrote (some 25 volumes) and I have absolutely no intention of getting rid of any of them. One volume on Islam was to have been published posthumously but of course it now will not be released sadly. The books I have are of great value, and I still can learn so much from them.

So now it is getting a bit less easy to find copies of his books, at least in various Christian bookstores. I just now took a quick look at Amazon, and it seems they can still be purchased there. So one moral of the story is this: if a book looks like it might well be worth purchasing, you better do it. You never know what might come of it in the near future.

Indeed, I used to do that with new theological volumes that had just come out. If they seemed a bit pricey, I would think that I could wait and see if I can later pick up a cheaper second-hand copy. Of course new books keep getting more expensive and not cheaper, and sometimes those used copies can be hard to find.

In sum, if you have good book sense, you will know a bit about what volumes are becoming rarer and/or more valuable. That also helps when you eventually start to unload your books. Sure, if your children love your books, you can pass them on to them. But if not, and you are starting to wonder what to do with a rather large library – as I am – then you at least need to know the relative values of them.

Some folks have told me for example that they wish they had grabbed the O’Brien volumes while they were still available – at a normal price. So if and when I start selling my books, I will seek to be fair with my prices. But if a few folks are fighting over some of these withdrawn volumes, I won’t mind watching the bidding wars begin!

BTW, another bit of advice for book nerds: I have my entire library recorded in a quite long Word document. It is a 130-page document with fine print! It contains some 8300 volumes. I only list three things: the author, the title, and then something that can be helpful later on: its price.

So when I picked up the three withdrawn volumes by O’Brien (not all that long after they were first published) I paid this much for each:

The Epistle to the Philippians (NIGTC) – $80
The Letter to the Ephesians (PNTC) – $55
The Letter to the Hebrews (PNTC) – $55

Given that they have been pulled, I cannot get a fair assessment of what they would go for today under normal circumstances. But his other volume was not withdrawn, so we can compare prices for that:

Colossians, Philemon (WBC) – $15 (the paperback version)

BTW, all these prices are all in Australian dollars. Today the hardback WBC volume sells for $187 at Amazon Australia! The paperback seems not to be available there. So inflation is certainly real, including for good commentaries and theological books.

So if you have a good-sized library, please consider listing them all – including the amount you paid for each volume. Then if you sell them later on, you can at least have a rough idea of what you might want to ask for them. Or, if you are a really nice guy and financially well off, you can just give them all away!

If I take a wild guess and estimate the average price of my books to be $20 (that is probably a bit low), then my entire library is now worth $166,000. And with many of my large commentaries easily worth over $150 today (and I have over 900 commentaries), I could be sitting on $200,000 worth of books here. Hmm, that’s a good deposit for a new house!

I used to tell my wife that if and when I do sell them, there would be theology lovers and others who would die to get their hands on many of my books. Even if I sold each one at half the price that I first paid for them, I could still collect a pretty penny. But my wife was always sceptical. I am now starting to think she may have been right, for at least three reasons:

-Plenty of folks today, including Christians, are no longer reading very much.
-Most Christians are less and less interested in theology and similar subjects these days.
-Today many (most?) of these books can be gotten electronically, so folks may not be so eager to get hard copies.

So I might be stuck with a big library and little moolah! Of course one could send them off to some struggling Bible College in Africa or Latin America. But have you ever tried to box up 8000 books? Egad, the thought alone makes me sore and achy.

But these are just some normal considerations for bibliophiles. However, as long as my mind, my eyes, and my fingers still work, I will keep writing articles and I will keep reading books. And I will keep buying new books! My wife used to keep the household budget, and she told me more than once that we spent more money on books each month than we did on food. Oops.

Well, now that it is just me and Jilly dog living here, I do not feel quite as guilty for my book-buying habits. And no, I am not addicted! I am reminded of what one meme says: A counsellor asks the patient, “Does anyone in your household suffer from book addiction?” He replies, “No, we all seem to enjoy it.”

OK, enough frivolity and nonsense. But for booklovers, some of these struggles are real. Bibliophiles of the world unite!

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