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Posted by: David Bunch

Christian Bookstores Are Out

I couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the struggling independent bookshop industry. Although I didn't realize it until today, Christian bookstores have been largely unaffected by giant retailers moving in on the market and squishing the little guy. Well, no more.

To the dismay of bibliophiles everywhere, most small bookstores have already been out-competed by corporate bookstore chains like Borders and Internet retailers like Amazon. Christian bookstores, with their specific and devoted clientele, enjoyed a bit more insulation from those threats. But now,independent store-owners like Steller say their biggest competition comes from department stores and general merchandisers like Wal-Mart, which have started carrying the hottest items on the Christian market at big-box bargain prices.

Moral? Don't buy The Purpose Driven Life at Wal Mart for $12.97, go to the Christian bookstore and pay the full $19.99 cover price. Okay, okay, I do feel for the independents, but aren't the big retailers just utilizing the free market to their advantage?

Rare Bibles Are In

The rare Bible market is currently sizzling. With a check for the proper amount, a collector can purchase a Bible, a page from a Bible, or even Spurgeon's sermon notes. Apparently, it's all the rage (at least in some circles).

Gene S. Albert Jr. isn't selling his prized King James first edition, first issue, printed in 1611. The book, also known as a "he" Bible for a masculine pronoun in Ruth 3:15 that was changed to "she" in later versions, sits atop a bookcase in the loft of the climate-controlled barn near Hagerstown that houses his museum. But Mr. Albert, who's been collecting for 25 years, has other rarities for sale at www.christianheritagemuseum.com. They include a single page of a 1454 Gutenberg Bible priced at $20,000; a 1685 second edition of John Eliot's Algonquin Indian Bible, the first Bible printed in America, for $175,000; and two handwritten sermon notes by 19th-century English evangelist Charles H. Spurgeon, marked down from $595 to $275 each.

Here is the link to the above mentioned Heritage Musuem.

So I guess Christian bookstores should start dealing in antiquarian Bibles.