The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-13
b|G INCREASE IN
 SALES 0E. BIBLES
All Kinds Of Religious Books Are In Strong Demand,
 Publishers State

TcilSiOH dTo HOW III hSCh oChhohNt AVA the world Is reading religious litera- ture on a scale never before recorded. More publishers are bringing -out such literature today than in the past; there are more titles and big ger editions. Religious works appear on the most called-for" lists of the public libraries, and a life of Christ heads the roster of best sellers In the non-fiction class.
 Various explanations are offered for this phenomenon in the book-sell- Ing trade; they all come down to this, that the world, emerging from the war, is looking to it's soul. Mat ters of the spirit are common sub jects of conversations; people may De heard discussing them in crowded elevators, in restaurants, in subway trains.
 From books that deal with eccle- siastical points now in controversy in church circles the increased demand reaches in one direction to semi-re- ligious and philosophical works and in the other direction. to the Bible itself. The Bible, g perennial best seller. sold better the first adn nine months of 1923 thaR in all of 1922, and the 1923 total is likely to run 75 per cent, higher than for the pre- ceding year. These are sales, not gifts. The American Bible Society's figures show that where ten persons were interested enough to pay money for a Bible in 1922 F or Is felt the need in 1923. Incidentally. the de- mand in New York, both city and state, has doubled in year.
 An Effect Of The War.
 The new interest in religious writ ings has a deep significance. in the opinion of w. H. Murray, manager of the religious department of the Macmillan Company. He says: "The war upset the easy optimist current among us. It was followed by year or two of exhaustion-of refusal to think and of license in pleasures anything to fend off the disturbing fineries that would not down. With the returning tides of life people have begun to think things over, to cast about for solid grounds of hope that. means at once new interest In philosophy and religion"
 A more immediate cause Is sug- gested by a representative Of the Fleming H. Revell Company. Here tofore," he said, "the sale of religious books has been confined largely to clergymen. But the prominence now controversies has created a demand throughout the laity. Men and women in general are reading. and are discussing in groups, serious books on both sides of the disputed questions"
 Another specific reason advanced to account in part for the unusual turn of interest is the religious book week which has been conducted in Lent in the last three years by the National Association of Book Pub fishers. The campaign in 1924 is to be extended over five weeks. OQe of the chief effects of this campaign has been to educate the pooKseller to the realization that a religious book can sell. In the past the dealer was likely to regard every religious book as what the trade calls plug -one that stays on the shelf. With ministers recommending books rom the pulpit, however, the situation has changed According to The Pub were published in America in 1922, against 3s5 in 1921. The 1923 figures are expected to show still greater gain.
 All The World Thinking.
 The awakening of interest In re- ligious reading is worldwide. Great Britain has had big sales of spiritual books since 1920. China and Japan report likewise. The revival of re- ligious feeling on the continent Of Europe was well under way while America was still giving it's chief at tention, apparently, to temporal di- versions. But while Middle Europe has turned strongly toward mysti- cism, America seems more concerned with such questions as the inspira- tio- of the Bible and the divinity Of Christ, though there is a strong mys- tical tendency here as well.
 Devotional books once constituted virtually the whole of religious liter ature in this country. Now books on controversial matters are ascen- dent. The present-day disputes, ac- cording to one bookman, send laymen to study the Bible at first hand. The revival of interest in serious things also creates a market for books that treat of religion put to Work. AS- counts of missionary and other wei fare efforts at home and abroad, ana of the reclamation of stricken peo- ples, such as the Armenians, nave better sale than ever before.
 Publishing houses that once issued no books in this class now ina IL worth their while to develop re- significant when it is recalled that the expenses of book publishing nave greatly increased since the war. Pup fishers cannot pass on to the con sumer the increase in cost or produc- tion as easily as is possible in other lines of trade.
 When the typesetting and electro typing of a book come to $500, II means that the book costs its maker SO cents a copy if 1000 are sold, but only cents a copy if 10000 are sold. The demand for the religious DOCK is such that editions of 10000 are not uncommon now. and there is chance of profit. Indeed. some books on mat ters of faith earn as much money as sensational sellers on the fiction list. Nor is this the result of advertlslng in the usual manner; there is not more advertising, proportionateiy. III advertising alone could sell religious books they would have been prof itable class In the book market long ago.