KING’S BUSINESS ANNUAL BOOK ISSUE I n l o o k i n g o v e r t h e grist of religious books published
during the past year, one is impressed with a num ber of things. Over the past ten or fifteen years there has been a steady increase in the number of religious titles issued, and an increase, of course, in the cost per page. We used to think that when a book went over a cent a page it was getting expensive. Now we are happy to find one that is less than a cent and a half a page. As the number of pages increases, this ratio is reduced, because of the fact that certain operations are necessary for a hundred pages, and the same operations will suffice just about as well for a book of five hundred pages. To illustrate this point, we pick up a book of 119 pages and find that it is listed at $2.50 (Charles F. Pfeiffer’s Dead Sea Scrolls, Baker Book House), and a book of 927 pages, filled with pictures, that can be bought for $9.95 (Zon- dervan’s Pictorial Bible Dictionary, edited by Merrill C. Tenney). A number of secular publishers in the past few years have put in religious departments. In the main, they cater to a wider audience than the religious publishers and they have increased the competition in the areas of quality and price. They can do this because of their large operations. One of the most interesting and exciting examples is the manner in which Harper & Brothers have taken up the publishing of the Auca Indian story and other missionary enterprises. More and more it is now possible for a reliable conservative scholar to get a large publisher to handle his book. Another factor is the popularity of the paperback book. Many titles are now published simultaneously in hard and paper backs. New Testaments and portions are among these. Paperbacks make possible the re-issue of older works that would otherwise not become available. We have before us, for instance, Ruth, the Satisfied Stranger, by Philip Mauro, re-issued by Bible Truth Depot, Swengel, Pa. 220 pages; $1.95. The population increase, the Billy Graham crusades, and other evangelistic and church expansion efforts bring more readers into the field of religious literature. The Bible and religious literature are no longer taboo sub jects in conversation and in reading. Public, church, and school libraries make more and more good books avail able. The Book Editor, because of his position as Book Editor, and because of his position as Head Librarian of The Biola Library, has an enviable view of new titles coming out. In addition to the books sent for review by the publishers more or less sympathetic to the doctrinal position of Biola, and because The Biola Library receives proof cards from the Library of Congress of all religious books being processed, for which printed cards are made, and because we now have every month a list of the chief books published arranged in Dewey Decimal classifica tion order, one can pretty well keep up with new titles in religion. We should like to share with our readers many observations, but space will not permit. We have decided to limit this issue largely to a notice of Bible translations and commentaries. Other material is covered quite extensively, however, in the reviews and “Book End” sections. We have tried to clean up for once the backlog of books on hand, and shall try to keep more current in the future with these columns.
w ords
abou t
the
WORD
by Dr. Arnold D. Ehlert Head L ib ra rian and Professor o f L ib ra ry Science, Biola C o lleg e
13
NOVEMBER, 1963
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