Our Wants List

Liturgical Books particularly Alcuin Club, old Missals (Anglican or Catholic), Church Music (including actual hymn books) Ritual Notes, Dearmer's Parson's Handbook etc.

Biblical Studies. Modern academic studies, scholarly commentaries.

Theology. Good academic authors from the past - Oxford Movement, Newman, Kierkegaard, Barth et al.

Canon Law particularly medieval.

Patristics - studies on the first five centuries of the Church - Anything really, especially in Greek, Latin, English or German. Sets of Migne's Patrologia are always welcome.

Medieval Studies - Anything scholarly.

Church History since 1500 Reformation, religious orders, Oxford Movement, missions, Denominational history

Spirituality All the classic writers from John Cassian to the present.

Orthodoxy All areas of Eastern Christianity, including Coptic, Ethiopian and Indian.

What we don't buy is paperbacks of a pious or ephemeral nature. The internet has driven dowm the prices of such books to such an extent that it is no longer worth our while trying to make a living out of selling the contents of the average clerical library. The specialist academic titles which we are increasingly concentrating on stocking are most likely to come from college or university libraries or the collections of academic theologians, biblical scholars, church historians and liturgists who have studied for a higher degree. Of course there are exceptions. Once or twice over the years I've bought really scholarly libraries from unordained autodidacts who never in their lives had any formal theological training at all. And even a humble parish clergyman, ninety five percent of whose books are the usual boring dross that everyone of his generation owns, can sometimes turn out to have some specialist field of interest with the books to go with it. Do consult us if you suspect some of your books may be of specialist interest. They are the ones we want!

Books we buy are generally clean (no underlining!) and in good sound bindings, though sometimes if a title is rare the condition doesn't matter as much.

Phone or email us. We don't usually need to see a list of the books, but if you have one already that can be useful. It is helpful to know about the owner - their clerical and academic achievements, churchmanship, interests and age. This can give me an instant idea of not only what their collection is like generally, but even which titles I am likely to find on their shelves. Academic and monastic libraries (as long as the latter don't consist entirely of books on how to be a good nun) are welcome.

If you phone I will want to ask you about the books, so if you can work out the strengths and emphases of the collection and tell me, that will be helpful. You should also have a representative selection of what you consider the best books to hand so you can read out their details to me. It doesn't have to be many - a dozen at the most.

In theory we travel anywhere on the mainland of Britain to buy books. In practice this means that the further away from Cambridge, the better and bigger the collection has to be. But this is tempered by the fact that if you live somewhere romantic or beautiful I like the excuse to take a day off to come and see the countryside.

Having looked at a collection of books and decided I want them, I can usually make an immediate offer. But sometimes I need to do some research before I can work out a price that is fair to both you and me. In these cases I need you to leave the books with me a few days.

Philip Lund B.A.(Rhodes) B.D.(Hons)(London), DipTh.
Lund Theological Books
1 Arbury Road
CAMBRIDGE
CB4 2JB

Vat Reg No. GB 386 0602 50

Phone (24hr) 01223 565 303

e-mail: philip@lundbooks.co.uk