Books on Coventry

This book was much bigger and more detailed than the directories. Gold edges to the pages.

I'll go and knock Rob's door Helen

Yes Helen, it is a really good book. I have used it to answer several questions on the forum. Published about 1912. 200 pages full of information and pictures both inside and out of the many businesses of the time and the odd extra pictures as well. And I only paid £3.99 for it from a charity book shop. If one ever comes up on t'internet I would recommend anyone to buy it.

Interesting that there might be different versions Anne. Mine has no date of printing but it has a comment under one of the businesses about the upcoming business year of 1896.

My apologies Helen, I don't know where I got that date from so I have gone through the book and at the end of the article for W B Turner and son the author says "and we may in conclusion, strongly advise riders to inspect these admirable mounts before finally deciding on a selection for the fast approaching season of 1896" . So that must be the date of mine as well. It seems strange to call a book up to date and then not saying what date !

The "Coventry Up-To-Date" I have is only a "reprint" version, sadly (I must change the bibliography description!). It's really not much more than a pamphlet, containing 25 pages. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a copy on eBay or elsewhere though.

No need to apologise Anne, dating stuff is very difficult. You probably got the date from whoever sold it to you. We've all done that. I'll try to remember to bring my copy with me next time I come. The Herbert seems to have a copy here.

All the pages. The next best thing !

I have just bought a newly published book called 'The 14th November 1940 A-Z' by Grace Bullingham. She is a young freelance photographer who has lived in Coventry all her life and says 'I know that the bombings is a huge part of the city that brings a lot of the community together today as well as back then. I have researched their deaths, family history, found imagery and contextual information'. The book gives biographical information on a selected number of blitz victims especially where several members of the same family died. It contains a lot of detail that is available elsewhere, including here on Historic Coventry (which is duly credited as a source) but is well-presented and has only a small number of typos which sadly many self-published books contain. It is available on Ebay for £9 with free postage: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404757115843?itmmeta=01HQBNP5M0Z2PMQG24DE9K8ZQ3&hash=item5e3d....

With a lot of books selling on Ebay, it makes increasing sense to self publish. My main gripe is that photos in them tend to be lower quality. Typos tend to pass me by but getting it wrong on the blurb on the back is a bit of a blooper.

I've just bought that book, too, direct from Grace's online little shop, which she told me about. She also kindly supplied me with a few of the personal and family photos for displaying on the Blitz victims.

I agree, sadly some self-published books have very poor photographic reproductions, probably due to financial restraints. But Grace, being a photographer herself, presumably is well up on the best ways to present/ layout etc.

Clearly Grace is a very enterprising young woman and I wish her success with this new venture. She has also produced a booklet on the History of Earlsdon Library.