| If there is only a short review of the book that interests you tell me and I may be able to extend the description. |
Locating Books
The following pages are available on this web site to help you:
Books About Hertfordshire provides general information about the different types of books that have been published. Local History in Hertfordshire provides a very useful guide to earlier works.
Hertfordshire Public Libraries for loan or reference copies. UK readers may well be able to arrange access at their local library through the Inter-Library Loan Scheme.
HALS undoubtedly has the best specialist collection of Hertfordshire books, many on open shelves for reference only. They also have an online bookshop of Hertfordshire books.
Second Hand Books lists useful web sites - some of which also cover new books. Some sites will let you know when the book you want becomes available.
Looking for Books provides examples of searches in library catalogues and second hand book sites.
Some Genealogy Suppliers may supply reprinted books and CDs reproducing old and hard to get books
The catalogues of the British Library and other major libraries may provide further information about the books they hold - but you will probably need to visit the holding library to see it.
The Society of Genealogists has a very extensive reference library on open shelves and is well worth a visit if you are in London.
In some cases recent books and booklets may be available directly from the author, society or publisher. It could be worth contacting them, as if the book was privately published they might have a garage full of unsold copies!
It should be noted that some key old books can be very expensive. Copies of the second edition of Chauncy are currently listed at over £1000 and you could expect to pay around £750 for Cussans. One bookseller recently asked £3500 for Clutterbuck, although cheaper copies are available.
At the other end of the scale a number of books and booklets, produced by a variety of organisations rather than by regular book publishers, can be very hard to locate, and may have been produced in small numbers. This includes societies reports, church guides, histories of local companies, and such like. They are the kind of thing you might find in a box of miscellaneous booklets at £1 each on the corner of a booksellers stall at any book fair. The problem is the one you really want is never there! For instance, when I wrote Tring in 1947 I had hoped to locate a copy of the town guide produced in that year. The Council minutes say 500 were printed but I have been unable to locate one of them. For some society reports and privately produced histories the original print run may be less than 50 and distributed to members only, with no copies to the copyright or other libraries.
The page Looking for Books gives examples of online searching for books.
| I do not provide a book finding service, but when I update a book page I currently run a quick search and add a note if I find a copy advertised for sale online. This is for guidance only. The absence of such a note does not mean that the book is not available. The presence of such a note does not guarantee a copy. |
If you can add to the information about book sources given above tell me.
Last updated August 2007