Many thanks to reader Deacon Dave for alerting me that the RNJB Hardcover study edition is now available for pre-order from Christianbook.com. The pre-order price is currently $34.99 — much lower than Amazon’s pre-order price. Both Amazon and Christianbook show a release date of April 9, 2019.
The Kindle edition is only $19.99. But I’m not going to pre-order it. I have never had any luck with Amazon pre-orders, everything always gets delayed, over and over and over again. The official release date may be April 9, but if history is any guide, it is more likely to be published on 9-4 than one 4-9.
I’d like to come to Amazon’s defense, but I can’t. I had pre-ordered the RNJB NT & Psalms. The day it was released, I was sent a message from Amazon that my pre-order was cancelled due to a lack of stock. Yet, on the Amazon sale page, it was stated the text was in stock, and it was available for one-day delivery. There’s more to the story, yet this is not a forum for such.
Christianbook. com is an amazing business. Sadly, their Catholic offerings are a bit scant, yet their service, their prices and their delivery methods are highly commendable!
Well, it’s not Amazon’s fault that publishers keep delaying publication of their works.
One really bad example of delay after delay is of the 4th edition of Eamon Duffy’s book “Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes”.
I bought and own all of the previous three editions of this book, which were published in 1997, 2001 and then 2006. As you can see, for the first three editions, the longest gap was only 5 years, yet by 2013, there was still no new edition, that was a 7-year gap between the third edition and the fourth, which is longer than the gap between the first and third edition. I was starting to wonder why there was no new edition, had he decided to abandon the project?
But with the election of Pope Francis in March 2013, I figured a new edition would finally be coming, and it was announced, in May or June of 2014. I pre-ordered it, and I watched as I got email after email telling me the publication had been delayed. By the time I got about the sixth ‘delay’ notice, I canceled my pre-order. The book was finally published in January 2015, nearly a year later than its original publication date, and nearly 2 years after the resignation of Pope Benedict. Yet, he was able to churn out the third edition in less than a year after Benedict had been elected.
There was never any explanation for the nearly year-long delay, I can only assume Duffy, like everyone else in the world, was caught flat-footed by Benedict’s sudden resignation and had to scramble to do the research to publish an updated edition of the book that included the new pope. Apparently, the research just took a lot longer than he had expected.
On the other hand, John Paul II had been sick for years, so his death was not unexpected, so Duffy was probably ready for it, and Cardinal Ratzinger was already an important figure about whom he had probably already done most of the research into his biography before the election. So the third edition probably didn’t take long to write, which is why it was published so quickly.
In retrospect, it makes complete sense why the fourth edition would take longer to write than the third edition. But, getting email after email about delays, and the book being published nearly a year after it’s original date, put me off pre-ordering for good.
This is a Bible I’ve been looking forward to ordering. I think my finances will allow it!