Thread: Where to buy books?

Could you guys please let me know where you buy your books from (online)?

I have recently purchased some books from christianbooks.com however they don't have some of the items I'm after. I found another site today however they would not ship to Australia which is important to me!

I'm wondering whether you guys use one or more different sources online.

Cheers,

Matthew

Walmart.com

I always check at Best Book Buys before I buy anything. They include Amazon, Half.com, Walmart, etc.

[Edited on 25-1-2005 by Fernando]

From Ant! :bigsmile:

Go to A Puritan's Mind and then click on LINKS and then BOOKS TO BUY. Here are the descriptions.


â–ºCumberland Valley Bible Book Distributors This is a great place to buy Christian books on the net, or anywhere else for that matter - an A+ on the scale for reliability and service. They are the fastest shippers and most reasonably priced Reformed Christian bookseller. They are also committed to good books and not just any books at all. Once a year they have customer appreciation day which gives you an additional 10% off your entire order. They are often in stock, and if you live east of the Mississippi, then you will usually get your books 2-3 days after ordering. Catalog is online, as well as a search engine to find books by name or author.

â–ºReformation Heritage Books
This is a top rate bookseller. Their prices can be the cheapest around. Reformation Heritage Books, Inc. is a non-profit organization, formed for the sole purpose of disseminating sound Christian literature world-wide. All proceeds from the sale of books are returned to the fund for the publication of Reformed material. Donations for this cause are deeply appreciated. We hope you find what you are looking for.

â–ºCovenant Media Foundation
It is the purpose of Covenant Media Foundation to promote sound biblical education and training for Christians at all levels. We are committed to working with believers from a wide range of theological backgrounds and associations, in the Spirit of Christ, with the common goal of advancing the kingdom of God both in the lives of individual Christians and throughout the culture.

â–ºTrinity Book Service This is the bookstore of Trinity Baptist Church, home of Pastor Albert N. Martin. The bookstore is very well stocked, and they have large audio and video cassette library as well. Their prices sometimes rival Cumberland, but their shipping is sometimes very slow. They have an on-line catalog that is not yet completed with all the bells and whistles. If the toss-up is between Cumberland and Trinity, definitely, for speed, go with Cumberland.

â–ºKregel Publishers Kregel has a great "find used books" section which allow you to locate things out of print or hard to find. They publish and sell reformed books.

â–ºInternational Outreach - They have an assortment of Puritan and devotional material and publish books which have the same format and similar appearance to Soli Deo Gloria. Very good books!

â–ºOld Paths Publications A newer publisher dedicated to reformation theology and reformed books.

â–ºRadio Missions Books
The Radio Bible and Book Room is a non-profit ministry of the First Baptist Church, Algiers, in connection with Radio Missions. The bookstore ministry was begun in the early days of our church history as a means of helping our families obtain sound, scriptural Christian books at deeply discounted prices. They offer to the public over 1500 titles of early Particular Baptist, Puritan and Reformed works, including many commentaries and sermons.

â–ºSprinkle Publications - Another publisher which publishes Reformed Baptist and Reformed Presbyterian books.

â–ºSoli Deo Gloria Here you can find the home of the Puritan publisher Soli Deo Gloria. They sell all their books on site, and have their catalog online. They are more expensive than the two distributors above, selling their books at the dust-jacket cost which is often 60% higher than what Cumberland will sell them to your for. But updated on new books can be found here as to when they will be published.

â–ºGrace and Truth Books At Grace and Truth, their focal point and goal has always been to bring the great, character-building literature of past centuries to the attention of this generation of families! As you focus on the education of your children, are you remembering to nourish yourself? The greatest need of our children is parents whose own souls are spiritually well-fed and strong in the Lord! If the well in our souls is deep and full, we have much to share with them. Many years ago, the writings of the Puritans of the 17th century made a lasting impression upon us which has forever changed our lives, as we learned of the depth and richness of study they mined from the treasures of God's word. So, please consider yourself invited not only to surf around on this website, but also see their sister site, www.puritansonline.com and enjoy with them the delight of literature from godly men of another era who will exalt God before your eyes as perhaps nothing you've ever read before!

â–ºBaptist Standard Bearer They publish old Baptist books which are often unknown and very helpful, if not critical to understand Baptists and Baptist History - a valuable site - many reasonable prices. The books on their site are unavailable anywhere else. You must buy their books from them. Their shipping is quite slow though.

â–ºBanner of Truth - The old faithful of book publishers, publishing reformed books. You can buy through them, but as with any publisher, you will pay the dust-jacket price; although sometimes they do have specials which are competitive.

â–ºChristian Book Distributors - The biggest distributor of "Christian" books in North America is no doubt CBD. But the biggest distributor of junk "Christian" books is also CBD. They sell everything from heresy to John Owen. The Christian needs to be very discerning about what they purchase here. Once in a while some of the larger sets they carry (like the Ante-Nicene fathers) are at a great cost. But most of the time their catalog is filled with Christian "fluff." They can locate anything on line for you that they sell.

â–ºLL Brown Publishing You can find a facsimile version f the Geneva Bible here - very good place to buy these and they are well made. (I have 2.)

â–ºGreatsite This is a "great site" for antiquitous book collectors and those who have Abraham's money flow to buy one...

â–ºStill Water Revival They have many excellent rare books, especially out of print resources, which many would never be able to attain unless they were quite wealthy. They sell them in "facsimile fashion" very cheap, and they are in Canada which affords US citizens a discount based on the exchange rate!

â–ºChristian Focus Publications

â–ºThe Christian Book Shop

â–ºNaphtali Press

â–ºSovereign Grace Publishing

â–ºScripture Truth Book Company

â–ºGrace Publication

â–ºGreat Commission Publications

â–ºWestminster Theological Books

â–ºInternational Outreach

â–ºBaker Book House

â–ºCalvary Press

â–ºChristian Focus

â–ºIntervarsity Press

â–ºKirkbride Bibles

â–ºMoody Press

â–ºNelson/Word Publishers

â–ºP&R Publishing Company

â–ºReformed Book Sales (currently down site)

â–ºReformed Free Publishing Association

â–ºTyndale Publishers

â–ºZondervan Publications

â–ºAmazon

â–ºBarnes and Noble

â–ºBorders

â–ºBuy.Com

â–ºGreyden Press

â–ºUnited Church Press

â–ºCambridge University Press

[Edited on 1-25-2005 by webmaster]

That's a great list, Matt!

Also, if one is the market for older works, abebooks.com and addall.com are a couple of good sites for antiquarian books.

Thanks for the info guys - I really appreciate it.

Matthew

I would suggest Amazon.com and the new and improved Monergism bookstore: http://www.monergismbooks.com/

I'd also suggest Solid Ground Books. Google it and you'll easily find the website. Michael is a publisher and is publishing wonderul material that has been 'forgotten' over the years. He also sells many items from other publishers at GREAT discounts. eg. I picked up Calvin's Commentaries for 99.00. And, he is a great fellow to boot.

I would also add the following:

Peter Reynolds (Used Christian Books) -- http://www.peterreynoldsbooks.co.uk

Crown & Covenant Publications -- http://www.psalms4u.com

Covenanter Press -- http://www.covenanterpress.com.au/

David Lachman (Christian antiquarian books) --
http://www.davidclachman.com/theobookshome.html

Old Paths Publications -- http://www.oldpathspublications.org/

Free Presbyterian Book Room -- http://www.fpbookroom.org/

Reformation Ink -- http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/

P & R Publishing -- http://www.prpbooks.com/

Curt Daniel's Good Books -- http://members.aol.com/goodbooks7/

Here's another place where some good books can be found -- Evangelical Used Books. I visited the store once and obtained a nice addition to my church history collection.

Don't buy books. Check them out from interlibrary loan from the library. You can get any book you want, even ones that are extremely hard to find. Saves money and space in the house.

Originally posted by Scott
Don't buy books. Check them out from interlibrary loan from the library. You can get any book you want, even ones that are extremely hard to find. Saves money and space in the house.

I have used ILL extensively for research and it is useful but you cannot "get any book you want;" I know because I've tried; so that is a wee bit of an overstatement.

BTW, I don't have much; but don't forget Naphtali Press
http://www.naphtali.com

If you want the best price, go to alldirect.com. They don't have the greatest selection (they are not a Christian online book store) but they have the best prices I have seen and you will be surprised at what selection they do have.

Another good resource is Presbyterian's Armoury Publications.

Another source is: Stroud Booksellers

http://www.wtsbooks.com is almost always the cheapest for Reformed books.

Brian

Amazon (used when possible). I'm also a rabid Accordance Bible Software (MAC only) user so I get as much content as possible from them (www.accordancebible.com). Fortunately, they have quite a bit of basic Reformed stuff in their content format.

http://www.half.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.isbn.nu the comparison enginge

For those who shop at Kregel in Grand Rapids...they're closing their used bookstore.

Where ever you buy books, do NOT buy them from "Discerningreader.com"

Last year I ordered TWO Gurnall books (one for a friend of mine) and paid for them via credit card. He took the money for both and sent only one copy. When I asked for my other book I got accused of "worshipping money>" He became very ugly and more rude than most worldly people I deal business with. After a year I finally gave up and told him I hope he can sleep at night knowing he stole from me. What's more is his language to me was very foul! (sad thing is he not only claims to be a christian, but reformed!) Upon researching this company I found he had MANY complaints against him.



[Edited on 7-22-2005 by Loriann]

Originally posted by Loriann
Where ever you buy books, do NOT buy them from "Discerningreader.com"

Last year I ordered TWO Gurnall books (one for a friend of mine) and paid for them via credit card. He took the money for both and sent only one copy. When I asked for my other book I got accused of "worshipping money>" He became very ugly and more rude than most worldly people I deal business with. After a year I finally gave up and told him I hope he can sleep at night knowing he stole from me. What's more is his language to me was very foul! (sad thing is he not only claims to be a christian, but reformed!) Upon researching this company I found he had MANY complaints against him.



[Edited on 7-22-2005 by Loriann]

Excellent point. See this thread and this thread. Moral of the story: discerning shoppers should avoid Discerning Reader.

Thanks Andrew, I was not aware you all were already warned, though I thought I did share a bit when it happened to me two years ago! I STILL have not received the second book of the Gurnalls I ordered AND paid for! $45 isn't much, but to a single mother it's more than enough to hurt!

Originally posted by Loriann
Where ever you buy books, do NOT buy them from "Discerningreader.com"

Last year I ordered TWO Gurnall books (one for a friend of mine) and paid for them via credit card. He took the money for both and sent only one copy. When I asked for my other book I got accused of "worshipping money>" He became very ugly and more rude than most worldly people I deal business with. After a year I finally gave up and told him I hope he can sleep at night knowing he stole from me. What's more is his language to me was very foul! (sad thing is he not only claims to be a christian, but reformed!) Upon researching this company I found he had MANY complaints against him.

I've had a very similar experience, but ended up slightly on top because of how I went about it. In my first order, I ordered 3 books. I received 2 out of 3 before I even sent him money. He sent an email notifying me that the 3rd book had shipped out, and sent me an invoice, so I gladly sent him the full amount via Paypal. I waited and waited for the ($21) book... but it never arrived. After a couple of weeks I notified the Discerning Reader cutomer service stating that I had not received the book. I never received a response from customer service or rob. I waited...and a couple of months later I decided to try to order 1 book about the same amount as the book I didn't receive (the difference between the 2 books is $3.49) hoping the book would be sent before requesting money. He sent the book, and then requested payment nearly every day for a couple of weeks. Before I ordered the second time (because he owed me $21), I decided that at best I would only send the difference between the two books. Finally he sent a non-Paypal email requesting the money, to which I replied:

Rob,

I never received the book "Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility" by D.A. Carson from my first order. After waiting weeks, I notified cutomer service, but never received a reply. There's a difference of $3.49 between the two books, which I could send via Paypal to you. Regardless, I'm done with shopping at the "The Discerning Reader". "Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you".

Sincerely,

Andrew

His response to me was:

"Don't worry about it. We are just as tired of dealing with a**holes like you, Andrew.

rob"

I thought I would give him a chance based on his apology, but it doesn't appear that he's changed much.

[Edited on 9-4-2005 by Apologist4Him]

James Dickson Books

If you don't live in the States but in the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) and Germany area then the best bookshop to go to is 'Boekhandel Den Hertog'. This is a reformed bookstore located in Houten, just a few miles from Utrecht in the center of The Netherlands. The diversity of the books and the quality of the contents of the books is rarely to be seen.
The import department (english books) has very good prices on many books if compared to other Dutch stores.
I think their second hand books are a bit too expensive sometimes.

Hamilton Books for discount overstock books, not particularly theological in nature.

By the way. for people living in the UK and maybe even in the US, gowanbooks is definately worth checking out. Do not check the internetsite (not completely updated) but call mr. Gowan. He has a lot and at (very) good prices too. The quality of his books is almost excellent and he has quite some books you might be looking for.

Note1: order more books at a time so you will save on shipping and ask how much shipping will be so will not be surprised.

Note2: remember UK currency is pounds. one pound is about $1,75

abebooks.com is good. But also EBAY can be a really good source. But be careful though, you not only can pay cheap for sometimes very rare books, if its something you really want and someone else won't let it go, you can pay a lot more than you should (I speak from experience). Also, if its a Presbyterian item that has not been bid up, David Lachman may very well snipe it from you!

There's a Christian Bookstore near me here, who has a whole section Devoted to Puritan Writings, they also specialize in out of print books as well...

Thier Website is:

Shiloh Bookstore...

Shiloh Christian Book Store
4036 Fort St. Lincoln Park, Mi 48146 USA
313-388-1010
fax 313-388-1012


I know this guy, He's awesome... Might be a bit pricey on some stuff.
But he usually has what your looking for.

Also, I just called him, and He does prefer to only ship the USA and Canada.

For the Elect Sake,

-Chuck

[Edited on 11-5-2005 by StudentoftheWord]

[Edited on 11-5-2005 by StudentoftheWord]

[Edited on 11-5-2005 by StudentoftheWord]

Reformers Bookshop

I use CBD.COM and Amazon. I've gotten some amazing deals using the used book section of Amazon, at least 66% most of the time and I've never had a problem.

Lots of good advice here.

Never buy retail!!!

Rockdale Christian Books

Don't buy books. Get them from interlibrary loan from your public library. It is free and you can get any book you want that has been out more than a year. And books don't start consuming all your storage space and then some (a big problem for bibliophiles like myself). I find I rarely go back to most books. The ones worth going back to often are worth buying.

The process is incredibly easy. Many libraries, even the small one near me, accept ILL requests over the internet, fax, phone, etc.

If you have to buy a book, ALWAYS check www.half.com.

[Edited on 1-18-2006 by Scott]

Kessinger Publishing's Rare Reprints -- lots of reprinted Puritan and Reformation works available

I've most recently used the old reliable, CVBBS. I think Mt. Olive Tape Library's book sale is also still ongoing. I haven't checked lately, but there are likely still several good buys there.

i'd be curious about following up on book price search engines.
i see best book buys above and i use http://www.bookhq.com/in/myhq
i suspect that someone might have written a search engine where you can add your own favorite bookstores. for instance, go through this thread and pull out all the bookstores and add to this custom book search engine.

does anyone know if such an engine is out there? i'd suspect something in perl would be doable. most stores search by isbn.

I know the good places to buy books... But if any of you are fairly good writers, you might consider writing book reviews. Amazon.com is a venue. I've been doing it on and off since 2000, and I am a Amazon.com book reviewer.

More to the point, I request books from publishers and get complimentary review copies from time to time. If you visit many publisher web sites, and look at contacts, you might notice a publicist list in e-mail contacts or a fax number. Some only have fax numbers, because they figure serious requests would take time to fax. But, there is an online fax machine to send your letters in such cases that works fine for me... TPC Fax Remote Printing WWW Interface. They are the ones to request review copies from. You might want to be careful how you phrase your succinct request, and show them that they get some tangible benefit for giving you a free book.

Though, I never guarantee 5-star reviews. One author told me he got a radio interview as a result of a review, so I wouldn't exactly think they are wasting their money with promotions. I can provide a list of publishers you might consider and a sample letter of request.

I imagine my success rate on requests is buoyed because I am up in the Amazon rankings and I can boast of what I've done thus far online or in a magazine, but it cannot hurt to try. When I first tried I so much presumed that my first round of requests would only have a 20-25% success rate, and I was overwhelmed by the responses that came in-- closer to 90%, so I learned to lessen the request volume. You have to get a start somewhere. Many publishers are quite generous, and frankly set aside a number of review books.

Sometimes, I post the reviews on Amazon.com and occassion this past year I've gotten into magazine publication and online venues. Two book reviews have gone up recently on the popular Internet e-zine LewRockwell.com and I have an up coming magazine review in summer 2006. I plan on doing more magazine freelancing as well.

If I go back to law school, I hope to make law review. So my freelancing for magazines doesn't hurt.

[Edited on 2-1-2006 by Puritanhead]

[Edited on 2-1-2006 by Puritanhead]

Originally posted by Matthew Glover
Could you guys please let me know where you buy your books from (online)?

I have recently purchased some books from christianbooks.com however they don't have some of the items I'm after. I found another site today however they would not ship to Australia which is important to me!

I'm wondering whether you guys use one or more different sources online.

Cheers,

Matthew

Matthew,

In case no one has mentioned it yet, Bookfinder.com is a great resource.
http://www.bookfinder.com/

Michael

Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
I would also add the following:

Peter Reynolds (Used Christian Books) -- http://www.peterreynoldsbooks.co.uk

Crown & Covenant Publications -- http://www.psalms4u.com

Covenanter Press -- http://www.covenanterpress.com.au/

David Lachman (Christian antiquarian books) --
http://www.davidclachman.com/theobookshome.html

Old Paths Publications -- http://www.oldpathspublications.org/

Free Presbyterian Book Room -- http://www.fpbookroom.org/

Reformation Ink -- http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/

P & R Publishing -- http://www.prpbooks.com/

Curt Daniel's Good Books -- http://members.aol.com/goodbooks7/

Here is a better link for Peter Reynolds: http://www.peterreynoldsbooks.com/