Books on Coventry

I've made the mistake of getting the same book twice, especially when they don't use the same image in the different items. It's caught me out about 4 times.

I have just seen on E-Bay 'COVENTRY IMAGES OF The PAST' FOR £6. I already have this lovely book but may I recommend it to others who would be delighted by it!

Thanks for that Prof, it is a very good book and there are cheaper copies, but maybe not in such good condition.

This beautiful book, given so generously to us all by our wonderful forum member, has now been converted into a PDF version, which allows us to see it in much better detail - and also enables us to download a copy for ourselves. I have made it available from the Online Book Index on Historic Coventry.

They are truly wonderful and such a generous gift to members . The colour brings the pictures to life and highlights details that might not be obvious in the B/W versions.

A lady has been in touch with me who has an original copy of Benjamin Poole's large History and Antiquities of Coventry from 1869. She's described it as "has damaged original cover and pages are slightly browned with age". She would like £50 for it, so if anyone on here would like to buy it from her, please let me know and I will put you in touch.

A recent purchase from off of ebay. Had been listed for many weeks and surprised no one else bought it. A 1940 diary of a 26 year old lady who lived in Coventry, close to the City Centre, (not going to show her name or full address): Full of entries of daily life in the City. She dated and was going to marry a gentleman and it has details of pubs & cinemas they went too and so much more about what she did every day. Of real interest is later in the year and the air raids. This is just one page from the diary: "terrible air raid, another air raid, Hillfields bombed".

Very Interesting Manor House, can you show her notes from November 14/15th ?

For anyone looking to significantly increase their home library of local history books, this online auction site has just put up a box full of very useful Coventry and Warwickshire books. Although the auction is online, this one is supplied by Warwick Auctions in Queen Victoria Road, so will be easy for locals to pick up. It ends this Wednesday, 16th.

For those looking for a book on Coventry for Christmas, when you're shopping in town, don't forget to pop into the Herbert Archive (check times it's open) and have a mooch through their 2nd hand for sale section. Often unusual books at the best prices. On multiple occasions I've found a book that has been on my 'would like to have' list. Failing that Ebay and Amazon etc have some great bargains. Worth shopping around once you've spotted something you want but remember to factor in postage. One of the things that got me collecting Coventry books was because to even ask for an out of area book at my library was £6 and no guarantee I would get it. Even just the trip to my library would involve a £2 parking pass to pick the book up and another £2 to take it back. Not to mention anything I might treat myself to while I was in town.

Some of the best bargains I have found have been from book shops some distance from Coventry. Our trips out always included a book shop as Roy was into collecting military books. Abebooks is also a good site but some of the books have mad prices. There are several online charity shops as well. A lot of the more modern picture type books are often a disappointment as most of the pictures you will have seen before or on line.

Are you talking about your local public library? I'm sorry to go off topic here but is the library charging you pay to borrow a book on loan from library in another town/ county? This is awful and is just the sort of non service that drives patrons away. It must almost always be cheaper to buy a used copy, if available. And as for having to pay for parking.....Arrrgh!

Yes Linda, but it was worse than that. If they couldn't get hold of the book I wanted, they'd still take my £6! It was exactly the type of service that drove me into the arms of Amazon. It was ultimately somewhat expensive due to quantity but it means that I have them to reference forever. The biggest cost has been to get some of the oldest books and pictures, but they have the added benefit of being copy right free. Which means that I can use the illustrations without having to pay anybody. Post cards are very useful too though the most unusual ones are often beyond my budget. The most expensive part of my hobby though is visiting Coventry, so the books are a cheap alternative.