Ouch!

While scrolling through yet another sale announcement from Dove, I noticed this entry:

Hultin, Jeremy F
Ethics of Obscene Speech in Early Christianity and Its Environment
(Brill, 2008)
Hardcover List: $177.00 Dove Price: $149.99
Save $27.01 (15%)

Prof. Hultin is a member of the biblical studies faculty at YDS, and an all-around good guy. And I'm quite curious about his treatment of this subject (the book is a revision of his doctoral dissertation). But when a volume is $150.00 after a discount, something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I'm well aware that my grasp of economics leaves something to be desired, but surely Brill would actually increase their profit margins if they sold larger numbers of units at lower prices? After all, most academics follow Erasmus' dictum of purchasing books first, and food and clothing afterwards (my parents can attest to this fact)...