I would love to add two books recently out by Brill to my library, however, as is often the case will Brill books the price is prohibitive. I really love physical books, but when the price point gets into the hundreds of dollars I think that the books should be released electronically. It’s doubtful that many libraries will even acquire a $400 book that isn’t vital to it’s collection–especially after endowments have been decimated. Furthermore, the Hallo book is a compilation of essays which would be handy to have but I already have copies of many of his articles and for $270 I’ll gladly round up the rest through JSTOR or inter-library loan and send off the packet to a bindery if I care about having them in one cover. I know that the weak dollar is part of the problem with Brill, but seriously, these prices are ridiculous. In any case, here are the books that I’ll longingly look at through the window…
On Art in the Ancient Near East
Culture and History of the Ancient Near East – CHANE 34
by Irene J. Winter
Brill Academic Publishers, 2009
English
Cloth
ISBN: 9789004175006
List Price: $400.00
Your Price: $380.00
www.eisenbrauns.com/item/WINONARTI
The World’s Oldest Literature
Studies in Sumerian Belles-Lettres
Culture and History of the Ancient Near East – CHANE 35
by William W. Hallo
Brill Academic Publishers, Forthcoming April 2009
vi + 736 pages, English
Cloth
ISBN: 9789004173811
List Price: $287.00
Your Price: $272.65
www.eisenbrauns.com/item/HALWORLDS
Charles,
I wish I could help! The dollar recovered about 20% last winter, but the prices from Brill haven’t reflected that
James
When I saw these, I nearly forwarded the info to our libraries acquisitions dept – then thought better of it. We can get a whole lot of books (perhaps a full subscription to JSTOR) for what they’re asking. Outrageous.
One does wonder whether the compendium of published articles (as a genre of academic literature) is worth it anymore. With virtually everything digitized (or on its way there), it doesn’t really make sense unless some of the articles are published in some REALLY obscure place. I wouldn’t prioritize such things as a librarian or for my private collection. Maybe others feel differently and these things really will sell. I wonder what the sales figures are.
James, I certainly don’t blame you all–I certainly value scholarship and I want to pay for it; I just want a reasonable price. However, I think that Eisenbrauns prices are reasonable, even on books that I bet have a small audience.
Kyle, I went through the same thought process as well and ended up on forwarding the email to the SBTS library–I wonder if HUC will even get them?
I agree with you, Angie. I bet libraries might have bought compendia when times were good and endowments were fat, but these days I wouldn’t think so.
There’s only one way to send a message to Brill: stop publishing with them and stop buying their books. But it’s difficult, especially when it comes to publishing in their journals. And I’m guilty: I have two articles in Brill journals (MTSR and JANER).
The
I agree with you, Alan. I am going to try to avoid publishing with them at the very least on the book level.