Mmmm, 08 Aug 2007
Interesting and informative.
Please be aware that this is an American book and the author likes to take
any opportunity to patronize the English.Example talking about the advances in printing in the 2nd/3rd century China and Japan while in Britain we were still in mud huts and painting ourselves blue for battle...I think the author misses the point that we share the same ancestors.Big chip and shoulder spring to mind.....
The book itself....very good,but please be aware of the above.

Fantastic for beginners!, 08 Aug 1999
I've been collecting modern first editions for quite sometimes but have just now started to learn what I'm doing! This book has been amazingly helpful and I highly recommend it.

Thinking about becoming a booktrader? Buy this!, 30 Apr 1999
The ABC's of becoming a traditional booktrader. Booktrading on the internet is barely given a mention but traditional identification, publishing, grading, scouting, and selling are covered. If possible, it makes being a booklover even more fun.

Scouting for used and rare books, 20 Jan 1999
Not 'Turn Books Into Gold', but at least it's in print. Not as much about used bookstore operations, but about nomadically scouting them, trading books from interest to interest as they are displayed by used books establishments and customers.

A book scout manual, also pre internet, but many things apply. It deals with exploiting the interests, both strengths and weaknesses, of established booksellers, and spotting and capitalizing on their likes and dislikes, as a nomadic used book scout and trend speculator.

Got mine at the library. Just read it. Good first editions publishers criteria and 1001 collectible authors (circa '96) sections at the end. Also, repairs and ethics info.

Now I'm a bookseller!, 09 Jul 1998
This book definitely got me from just thinking about selling used books as a hobby, to actually doing it. Ellis provides great tips on what, where and how to scout for books to resell, and 1,000 titles to look for. The book is written in an enjoyable style.

Mmmm, 08 Aug 2007
Interesting and informative.
Please be aware that this is an American book and the author likes to take
any opportunity to patronize the English.Example talking about the advances in printing in the 2nd/3rd century China and Japan while in Britain we were still in mud huts and painting ourselves blue for battle...I think the author misses the point that we share the same ancestors.Big chip and shoulder spring to mind.....
The book itself....very good,but please be aware of the above.

Fantastic for beginners!, 08 Aug 1999
I've been collecting modern first editions for quite sometimes but have just now started to learn what I'm doing! This book has been amazingly helpful and I highly recommend it.

Thinking about becoming a booktrader? Buy this!, 30 Apr 1999
The ABC's of becoming a traditional booktrader. Booktrading on the internet is barely given a mention but traditional identification, publishing, grading, scouting, and selling are covered. If possible, it makes being a booklover even more fun.

Scouting for used and rare books, 20 Jan 1999
Not 'Turn Books Into Gold', but at least it's in print. Not as much about used bookstore operations, but about nomadically scouting them, trading books from interest to interest as they are displayed by used books establishments and customers.

A book scout manual, also pre internet, but many things apply. It deals with exploiting the interests, both strengths and weaknesses, of established booksellers, and spotting and capitalizing on their likes and dislikes, as a nomadic used book scout and trend speculator.

Got mine at the library. Just read it. Good first editions publishers criteria and 1001 collectible authors (circa '96) sections at the end. Also, repairs and ethics info.

Now I'm a bookseller!, 09 Jul 1998
This book definitely got me from just thinking about selling used books as a hobby, to actually doing it. Ellis provides great tips on what, where and how to scout for books to resell, and 1,000 titles to look for. The book is written in an enjoyable style.

The First Modern English Book, 23 Dec 2008
In 1526 the English language was undergoing the "great vowel shift" and changing from the language of Chaucer (for whom we need a translation) to Shakespeare. At that time there was almost no English literature (Chaucer was an exception) and the general scholarly opinion was that English was too crude to say important things in. For such things the literate man needed Latin!

There was also great intellectual excitement, with the flames of the new learning being fanned by widespread printed dissemination. In particular, Luther had, in a highly subversive act, translated the newly published Greek and Hebrew originals of the Bible into German, with protection from the Inquisition by his local prince. England was too centralised to allow a similar thing, and besides, the so-called "Constitutions of Oxford" from 1408 were still in force: these made it effectively a capital offence to translate any part of the Bible into English, and were a response to Wyclif and his Lollards who were preaching a pure (and, it was thought, a highly seditious) Gospel from Wyclif's English Bible. But this manuscript (and very expensive) Bible was little more than a transliteration (into very poor English) from the Latin Vulgate text.

William Tyndale was one of the polymaths of the age, fluent in all the European languages, and in Biblical Greek as well, so much so that he could hear the Aramaic underneath the Greek of Matthew. He was also the only man in England to be fluent in Hebrew. And he believed that Everyman (and Everywoman too) should have access to the sacred text, the very words of God. But translation in England was vigorously prohibited, so he effected his translation in Europe, and printed the book underground, managing (just) to keep one step in front of the authorities.

This is the text we have in our hands, smuggled unbound into England and passing from hand to hand like wildfire. And what a text it is: probably the most influential in English, since the 1611 King James New Testament (ubiquitous until fairly recently) is essentially a revision of it. And we still know Tyndale unmediated by King James: when we say "it is for the best" we are directly using Tyndale's text of Romans 8:28, and this is only one of very many places where King James is not an improvement on Tyndale.

Tyndale's New Testament is an important book at many levels. Without Tyndale there would have been no Shakespeare! And (despite the spelling) this book is completely accessible to us: it is the first book in modern English. And what beautiful and stirring and evocative English it is!





Read aloud, 14 Apr 2007
Great bible version to read aloud. Try it in a mock Scottish accent, it works a treat! Compares well with modern translations (e.g. ESV, NIV, TNIV) and makes a refreshing alternative. Thank God for Tyndale.

lovely, 26 Aug 2003
Be warned - it's a bit unwieldy for quick reference, so have an easier version to hand if you are doing Bible study. Otherwise amazing.

Review of the first all modern English Bible, 11 Aug 2002
I purchased this Bible from the British Library as they published it for the 2000 millennium. It was a careful rewrite of the 1526 edition with corrected spellings taken from the 1536 edition. One problem for the modern reader is that there are no verses only chapter headings. It is therefore difficult to match verse by verse with other translations. The spelling is original but well worth reading. One helpful tip; Tyndale was a Gloucestershire man so try reading aloud in a Gloucestershire accent and it really does come alive!
W.R.Cooper who was given the task of reviewing the three remaining original manuscripts has done a remarkable job. On occasions Tyndale reads better than other translations. Take for instance the difficult word propitiation in Romans 3:25. Tyndale calls it 'seat of mercy.' In fact his translation was so good that the King James translators took large parts of Tyndale and transported it direct into their pages. I have compared every text of the Book of Romans against the New King James Version and Tyndale. There are whole sections of text where little if any changes are noticed. He uses words like 'favour' for 'grace' 'valour' for 'forbearance'.

Just to give one comparison with the New King James Version, we read in Romans 3:31

"Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." NKJV

"Do we then destroye the lawe throw fayth? God forbid. We rather mayntayne the lawe.." (Tyndale original spelling.)

"Do we then destroy the law through faith? God forbid. We rather maintain the law." (Tyndale modern version by review writer.)

Notice the different use of words in this verse as an example where there are changes. Tyndale uses 'destroy' instead of 'void'. 'God forbid' instead of 'Certainly not 'maintain' instead of 'establish'. We also need to bear in mind changes in the meaning of words since 1526.

To sum up. The Christian reader will find much to learn from Tyndale's beautiful translation. On occasion he is to be preferred to other translations. Reading this translation has brought much enjoyment and enrichment when reading the Word of God. I recommend it highly.

All Bible readers should have a copy., 23 Mar 2002
Good fun to read aloud and get the intonation of the sixteenth century and a different slant to the meaning.

Who would have guessed an innocent search for an inexpensive edition of War and Peace could lead to an all-consuming obsession? Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone's romance with rare books arose from just such a search and led them to a world they had never encountered before: the world of antiquarian books. They quickly found themselves infatuated with this quaint and curious world and scoured the East Coast of America in search of first editions and rare books. This search, and the curious people they met along the way, is chronicled in their book Used and Rare. Their second book, Slightly Chipped, continues this exploration, taking us on tours of book fairs, libraries and auctions. No longer the wide-eyed innocents, the Goldstones delve a little deeper into the book world, exploring facets such as fine printing and literary movements, pour over Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula and puzzle over the incredible markup of hypermoderns. Both the avid bibliophile and the casual reader will find things to enjoy in Slightly Chipped. For the collector, the Goldstones' discussion of the Internet's impact on collecting is illuminating and their look at the hypermodern market is positively eye-opening (Never heard of hypermoderns? They are collectible books recently published. A first edition of Sue Grafton's A is for Alibi sold for $1,250 in 1998. Better check your shelves). For the casual reader, Slightly Chipped is as warm and engaging as Used and Rare; though the Goldstones have become sophisticated book collectors, there is still plenty of the ingenuous surprise and delight that made Used and Rare such a joy to read. They balance out the serious aspects of book collecting with a liberal peppering of literary anecdotes ranging from William Morris's tyrannical leadership of the Kelmscott Press to the sexual proclivities of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, keeping the tone light and the pace lively. All this packed into one volume makes Slightly Chipped a rare treat for book lovers of all types. --Perry Atterberry

Mmmm, 08 Aug 2007
Interesting and informative.
Please be aware that this is an American book and the author likes to take
any opportunity to patronize the English.Example talking about the advances in printing in the 2nd/3rd century China and Japan while in Britain we were still in mud huts and painting ourselves blue for battle...I think the author misses the point that we share the same ancestors.Big chip and shoulder spring to mind.....
The book itself....very good,but please be aware of the above.

Fantastic for beginners!, 08 Aug 1999
I've been collecting modern first editions for quite sometimes but have just now started to learn what I'm doing! This book has been amazingly helpful and I highly recommend it.

Thinking about becoming a booktrader? Buy this!, 30 Apr 1999
The ABC's of becoming a traditional booktrader. Booktrading on the internet is barely given a mention but traditional identification, publishing, grading, scouting, and selling are covered. If possible, it makes being a booklover even more fun.

Scouting for used and rare books, 20 Jan 1999
Not 'Turn Books Into Gold', but at least it's in print. Not as much about used bookstore operations, but about nomadically scouting them, trading books from interest to interest as they are displayed by used books establishments and customers.

A book scout manual, also pre internet, but many things apply. It deals with exploiting the interests, both strengths and weaknesses, of established booksellers, and spotting and capitalizing on their likes and dislikes, as a nomadic used book scout and trend speculator.

Got mine at the library. Just read it. Good first editions publishers criteria and 1001 collectible authors (circa '96) sections at the end. Also, repairs and ethics info.

Now I'm a bookseller!, 09 Jul 1998
This book definitely got me from just thinking about selling used books as a hobby, to actually doing it. Ellis provides great tips on what, where and how to scout for books to resell, and 1,000 titles to look for. The book is written in an enjoyable style.

The First Modern English Book, 23 Dec 2008
In 1526 the English language was undergoing the "great vowel shift" and changing from the language of Chaucer (for whom we need a translation) to Shakespeare. At that time there was almost no English literature (Chaucer was an exception) and the general scholarly opinion was that English was too crude to say important things in. For such things the literate man needed Latin!

There was also great intellectual excitement, with the flames of the new learning being fanned by widespread printed dissemination. In particular, Luther had, in a highly subversive act, translated the newly published Greek and Hebrew originals of the Bible into German, with protection from the Inquisition by his local prince. England was too centralised to allow a similar thing, and besides, the so-called "Constitutions of Oxford" from 1408 were still in force: these made it effectively a capital offence to translate any part of the Bible into English, and were a response to Wyclif and his Lollards who were preaching a pure (and, it was thought, a highly seditious) Gospel from Wyclif's English Bible. But this manuscript (and very expensive) Bible was little more than a transliteration (into very poor English) from the Latin Vulgate text.

William Tyndale was one of the polymaths of the age, fluent in all the European languages, and in Biblical Greek as well, so much so that he could hear the Aramaic underneath the Greek of Matthew. He was also the only man in England to be fluent in Hebrew. And he believed that Everyman (and Everywoman too) should have access to the sacred text, the very words of God. But translation in England was vigorously prohibited, so he effected his translation in Europe, and printed the book underground, managing (just) to keep one step in front of the authorities.

This is the text we have in our hands, smuggled unbound into England and passing from hand to hand like wildfire. And what a text it is: probably the most influential in English, since the 1611 King James New Testament (ubiquitous until fairly recently) is essentially a revision of it. And we still know Tyndale unmediated by King James: when we say "it is for the best" we are directly using Tyndale's text of Romans 8:28, and this is only one of very many places where King James is not an improvement on Tyndale.

Tyndale's New Testament is an important book at many levels. Without Tyndale there would have been no Shakespeare! And (despite the spelling) this book is completely accessible to us: it is the first book in modern English. And what beautiful and stirring and evocative English it is!





Read aloud, 14 Apr 2007
Great bible version to read aloud. Try it in a mock Scottish accent, it works a treat! Compares well with modern translations (e.g. ESV, NIV, TNIV) and makes a refreshing alternative. Thank God for Tyndale.

lovely, 26 Aug 2003
Be warned - it's a bit unwieldy for quick reference, so have an easier version to hand if you are doing Bible study. Otherwise amazing.

Review of the first all modern English Bible, 11 Aug 2002
I purchased this Bible from the British Library as they published it for the 2000 millennium. It was a careful rewrite of the 1526 edition with corrected spellings taken from the 1536 edition. One problem for the modern reader is that there are no verses only chapter headings. It is therefore difficult to match verse by verse with other translations. The spelling is original but well worth reading. One helpful tip; Tyndale was a Gloucestershire man so try reading aloud in a Gloucestershire accent and it really does come alive!
W.R.Cooper who was given the task of reviewing the three remaining original manuscripts has done a remarkable job. On occasions Tyndale reads better than other translations. Take for instance the difficult word propitiation in Romans 3:25. Tyndale calls it 'seat of mercy.' In fact his translation was so good that the King James translators took large parts of Tyndale and transported it direct into their pages. I have compared every text of the Book of Romans against the New King James Version and Tyndale. There are whole sections of text where little if any changes are noticed. He uses words like 'favour' for 'grace' 'valour' for 'forbearance'.

Just to give one comparison with the New King James Version, we read in Romans 3:31

"Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." NKJV

"Do we then destroye the lawe throw fayth? God forbid. We rather mayntayne the lawe.." (Tyndale original spelling.)

"Do we then destroy the law through faith? God forbid. We rather maintain the law." (Tyndale modern version by review writer.)

Notice the different use of words in this verse as an example where there are changes. Tyndale uses 'destroy' instead of 'void'. 'God forbid' instead of 'Certainly not 'maintain' instead of 'establish'. We also need to bear in mind changes in the meaning of words since 1526.

To sum up. The Christian reader will find much to learn from Tyndale's beautiful translation. On occasion he is to be preferred to other translations. Reading this translation has brought much enjoyment and enrichment when reading the Word of God. I recommend it highly.

All Bible readers should have a copy., 23 Mar 2002
Good fun to read aloud and get the intonation of the sixteenth century and a different slant to the meaning.

Strike Two, 29 Oct 2002
"Slightly Chipped", by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone is the second offering on what is supposed to be their continuing exploration of the world of book collecting. However, just as in their first book, "Used And Rare", the topic of books serves to provide these people with a continuous stream of targets for abuse. Please do not take to heart their description of what it is like to collect books nor of what type of people you will likely encounter while doing so.

To give you an idea of how far this book routinely strays from the alleged topic, what follows are direct quotes. The first takes place at a gathering at a library amongst a small group who are present to learn about very rare books. Any one of the volumes could be the subject of an entire book, but books are just a tangent in this brief and shallow memoir. While they do not hesitate to name the person they describe, and also list his occupation, I offer just a fragment out of the respect for privacy they show no concern for. "He was the kind of person whom Hollywood casts as the computer junkie who uses the Internet to lure young women to his apartment for.................." This is what they choose to describe as books from nearly a millennia ago are passed around the table. A book by William Morris is part of the evening's discussion. Mr. Morris produced some of the most prized limited editions of the late 19th Century. Here, that is almost a footnote when compared to his personal life, which rambles on for pages.

These people cannot even visit a bookstore that I know well, without adding this bit of irrelevant mean-spirited commentary on Torrington CT. ".thus providing the grimness and depressedness of Torrington for that much longer". Canton is described as, "hardly a town at all", and they quiz the owner on why he is located in such a difficult location. Our authors have moved to Fairfield CT. since their last book, an area that allows them to name drop the famous and wealthy, one of whom had to change homes because the light at The Yacht Club shone into his bedroom. What any of this has to do with books is beyond me.

Collecting books is a wonderful hobby. Shop owners generally will spend vast amounts of time, sharing their knowledge and love of books. I have been present when booksellers have taken a personal check for several thousand dollars on the final day of a show, from a person they never met, hours before they were to fly across the Atlantic to their shop in England. As a group, book collectors and dealers are wonderful people who share what Author Nicholas Basbanes has called, "A Gentle Madness". The authors do not enjoy this state of mind, rather, like the title of this book what rests upon their shoulders may be slightly chipped, however a large portion remains firmly in place.

A humorous insight into book collecting, 17 Aug 1999
I loved this book - most unexpected because I know nothing about book collecting. The 'real-time' and unpretentious approach to the story telling by the authors of their 'adventures' really works well. I also greatly appreciated the 'aside' stories - Bloomsbury, the 'duk' and 'duches', Cudjo, Rosenbach, etc. - I would never had known about some of these. I especially liked the apparent 'closeness' of the authors in their endeavors. One word of advice for the authors, however - although your 'review' of the West Street Grill was interesting, stick to books - I'm a Bob Evans type guy myself. I'm looking forward to reading "Used and Rare" and "Slightly Chipped II".

Good, but..., 24 Jul 1999
I had somewhat mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, I enjoyed the authors' sense of humor, modesty and easygoing, engaging writing style. (As with Used and Rare however, one must adjust to the unusual first person plural narrative, in which every quote is uttered by both of them and which yields such sentences as "We turned the book over in our hands.") On the other hand, it seemed as if there wasn't quite enough material to fill an entire book, which may have caused the authors to go off on a number of looonnnggg tangents/sidebars. Some of these I enjoyed, but others I found very dull (such as the Bloomsbury material, the stuff about Cudjo, and the biography of William Morris). I also thought that the opening of the book showed a bit of false humility, since, despite their disappointment in not easily finding Used and Rare in the Boston bookstores, the book obviously sold well enough to warrant their publisher's OK for a second volume on the same material. All in all though, a good book.

A captivating and charming read., 06 Jul 1999
Much like their first book, Used & Rare, Slightly Chipped is another foray into the wonderful world of book collecting. The authors have a wonderful and charming voice that makes readers want to not only go out book-buying with them but also to dinner.

I THINK IT IS GREAT! What are people expecting?, 27 Jun 1999
This is a great little book about the Goldstone's personal explorations into the book world and the people they meet there. Their descriptions of the people they meet, the Duke and Duchess, book dealers and their shops, fairs, auctions, etc., are exactly in keeping with the tone of the first book and I enjoyed it quite as much. One of the things that impressed me the most was the thoughts, pro, con, and speculative, about the internet and where it may or may not be going and possible ramifications of this. It is important, but nobody can truly answer that question yet. I loved it. I use the internet (obviously). I live in small town USA and love books, but cannot always get my hands on them without long distances and elaborate plans. Bibliofind is worth a lot to me all on its own. Helpful or not, I just enjoyed reading the book. It wouldn't even be the same without the menus. The mood is all part of the book. I can't wait for the next one.