I love books, so a huge highlight of the national SBL meetings is the book exhibition. I was disappointed that some publishers were absent. Equinox did not have a stall; if they did, they would have sold plenty of copies of Avraham Faust’s Ethnogenesis. I also miss not being able to look through some of the great offerings in biblical and cognate studies of the falsely so-called minor university presses. I wish they would band together and show their most precious biblical wares at the annual bazaar.
Most impressive this year: the really fine book bag all attendees received
thanks to Baylor University Press. Baylor Press means to please, and they
succeeded. Not all stalls offer adequate bags to carry away their own products. I picked
up the three released volumes of the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible
at Abingdon Press for a huge discount, but even their double bagging was unable
to stand up to the weight of their ponderous volumes.
To the rescue came Walter de Gruyter which, as always, has some of the most
glorious titles on sale in the field. I was browsing because I really was willing
to pay any price for Esther Hamori’s splendidly written monograph on God’s body
language in the Hebrew Bible (I forget the exact title). Alas, it was all sold
out, so I was left with my mouth hanging wide open over Stefan Reif’s volume on
Jewish prayer, wondering if I should risk breaking my book budget yet again in
order to purchase it. The ever-helpful de Gruyter staff mittlerweile
noticed that the twiny straps on my Abingdon double book bags were breaking,
and offered me one of their magnificent and sturdy cloth book bags.
You can tell a lot about the quality of scholarship a press publishes by
the book bags they give you. This year, de Gruyter gets first prize. Thank you.
Equinox is distributed in the US by David Brown. Did you look for them there?
Posted by: Jim | November 24, 2008 at 06:08 AM
So, John, are you sure it doesn't tell you more about the price of their books???
And, where does Eisenbrauns stack up in your list, then :)
James
Posted by: James | November 24, 2008 at 06:32 AM
I am struggling through Reif - a gift two years ago from my son-in-law. About page 120 I am finding it more interesting and may blog some more on it eventually
Posted by: Bob MacDonald | November 24, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Eisenbrauns is my favorite press, bar none, because their books are both of the highest quality and affordable.
Still, publishers like de Gruyter, V & R, Mohr Siebeck, Peeters, wow. If I owned an underwear factory like Martin Hengel, I would be tempted to buy the entire inventory.
Jim,
I discovered that Brown is the distributor after I posted. But the volumes I am looking for, edited by Ian Young et al, are not yet available.
Posted by: JohnFH | November 24, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Interesting what you said about Eisenbrauns, John. I spoke to one of their editors who is overseeing a new monograph series, Journal for Theological Interpretation Monograph series (I think). Among other things, it will provide a place to publish dissertations which engage in theological interpretation (whatever that is :-)). I’m hopeful about the series and was encouraged by the conversation. From my conversations with folks looking to publish their dissertations it seems as though many of the mainline publishers require that the theological bits get edited out for publication. This series seems to move against that current, which is really good to hear! The editor indicated that many young/emerging scholars are looking for resources on theological interpretation and it seems as though Eisenbrauns wants to deliver!
Incidentally, John, I saw you a couple of times in Boston but you seemed to be engaged with others so I decided not to introduce myself. Hope you found the weekend worthwhile.
Posted by: dave b | November 27, 2008 at 05:44 AM
Dave,
A cautious soul you are. Next time at SBL, please introduce yourself. That is great news you bring about Eisenbrauns. I am about to join IBR, I think, whose periodical is published by Eisenbrauns.
Posted by: John Hobbins | November 27, 2008 at 01:19 PM