Buying (locally produced) books in the Middle East

Just back from a trip to Jordan and Egypt.

I bought a number of books as souvenirs/reference materials. One, bought in Wadi Musa/Petra, had a number of pages missing. Fortunately I was able to take it back to the shop, and they were willing and able to replace it with a full version. Perhaps this gives the lie to Wadi Musa being an unfriendly/unhelpful place?

In Sinai I bought a book about St Katherine's monastery. This omitted about 16 pages, duplicating another 16 pages. A silly printing error. Shamefully this book was published by the American University Cairo Press (so no excuses, surely, about a non-Roman script reader not being able properly to check the printing). I couldn't get my money back in this case, as I only found the error when half-way to Cairo.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with poorly-produced books in tourist areas?

I'd advise anyone buying a book in the region to give it a good flip thorugh to ensure that all the pages are there in the right order. I don't know how you'd do that, though, when buying a cellophane-wrapped copy which might differ in that respect from the display copy.

Martin