ORDERING

You may order by post, phone, fax, or e-mail.

BY 'PHONE

You may phone your order to us any time during our normal business hours. If we are around you will get a human voice. After 18.55 our time, the 'phone switches over to fax and answerphone mode.

If you get through to the answerphone please state clearly and slowly your name, address and the numbers of the coins or books you want to reserve. You have only a short time in which to do it, so don't waffle ! If you're insomniac, or antipodean, you may ring or fax in the middle of our night if you want.

E-MAIL - PLEASE identify your order in the subject line with your name and the date, or some other distinguishing feature. Why ? Because it distinguishes your order from those of others who are sufficiently unimaginative to identify their order only as 'Coin order', or 'Books'. One or two like that is fine - but 100 or more and it becomes messy and confusing.

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE ORDERING BOOKS OR COINS :

So many people seem to get things wrong, through not having read this bit, or the Terms and Conditions section, that we try to get things noticed, so if this seems repetitive, please forgive me.

WE DO NOT TAKE CREDIT CARDS OR BIDPAY. These institutions want almost 5 percent of the transaction total as payment for their service. Our gross profit margin works out at about 22 percent - I'll leave you to do the maths and draw the conclusions.

We do accept payment by PayPal. Please give us your e-mail address, and we will send a request for payment.

POSTAGE & PACKING

Prices do not include postage and packing which will be charged. We do not quote postage inclusive prices because unlike book dealers who sell in the UK only, we have customers spread over the entire world. Whilst the postage for sending a book to, say Burslem, is 3, it could cost 16 to send it by first class airmail to New Zealand. Also, whilst it costs say, 3 to send a book within the UK, it may cost only 5 to send five. Thus the customer who orders six books would end up paying too much, which is why we charge according to the weight and destination of the parcel, which is fair to everyone.

The Minimum post and packing charge for books, is 1. Why ? Because packing materials are expensive and because packing takes time and we have to employ someone to do it. Please, don't try to be smart and ignore it, or assume that ten books are going to cost just 1, 1 is the minimum charge. For those who think that we should charge only the cost of the stamps, dream on, this is the real world. If you have a problem with that, please take your business elsewhere.

QUALITY Most people treat books with care and consideration, so most books, even quite old ones, are usually in quite good condition. Unless stated otherwise, secondhand books are in a reasonable, clean condition.

Look through the listing you will see that we make comments such as : 'Spine worn', 'Cover scruffy and faded' 'Grubby, well-worn, several repairs'; 'Library bookplates, stamps, etc., o/wise a reasonable copy'; 'Spine partially missing', 'Plates and pages foxed and spotty'; 'Cover tatty and coming adrift. Needs rebinding'. We try to ensure that those that are falling apart, those off which people have eaten their breakfast (you think I’Äôm joking ?), are described as such. Also, where it says 'slight', (abbr. to 'sl. '), this means tiny, a little, or very small. You will not find when you order a book described as 'slight tear to back cover' has the back cover half torn off. If it doesn’Äôt say 'falling apart', it isn't. We want our customers to continue to order books and coins over many years, which is why our goods are described fairly, so as to be received with pleasure, not disappointment.

HOW THE LIST IS ORGANISED

In general, books are listed within their categories in alphabetical order of author's surname. However, as some books fall into several possible categories, some series have more than one author, and as the system is not infallible and categories are not absolutely rigid; you are advised to peruse the list to find that for which you are looking, and serendipity being what it is, you'll probably find something else that you always wanted anyway.

Books are not normally sent out on approval. Why not ? Primarily because once you have opened a book and looked at it then it is technically secondhand. Also, believe it or not, there are people who want to have a specialist book to catalogue their coins over the weekend, and then return it, leaving us with postage costs and a secondhand book !

HELP ? If you have not met us, you might not know that we ourselves are bibliophiles. Our house is full of books and our numismatic library, built up over many years, is quite good. We have been around a long time, as collectors, as researchers and authors, and also as publishers of the odd book or six. So, although we are not specialists in every branch of collecting, there are few people around who are better placed to help you in your choice of books, and if we don't know, we generally know who does. All you have to do is ask - and no, we are not out to sell you the largest number of the most expensive books possible, we want to help you with your hobby and share the joys of collecting coins - even if that means selling you a cheap book rather than a costly one - or letting you know about one that you didn't know existed. I hate people who try to sell me something that I do not want or need, so you may be sure that I will not try to do this to you. Don't be offended if we offer you secondhand books. Most of our own library was acquired secondhand and for out of print titles that's the only way to get them. Indeed, we now collect books that have been owned by collectors of earlier generations. It is good to know that the book one is using belonged to Chetwynd, Potter, Sutherland, W J Davis, Dalton, Hamer, Peter Seaby, Lockett, or other famous numismatists of previous generations.

Our secondhand books usually sell quickly because the prices are reasonable. If anything remains on our shelves for more than two lists the price is chopped, unless the book is a rare one and I feel that I'm casting pearls before vultures. (Look out for our vulture specials) This means that our stock is constantly changing, so if we don't have what you want now, it could easily come into stock later this week, or next, or perhaps never.

We sell books at as reasonable a price as possible, dependent upon demand, availability, condition and, of course, the price we paid for it. However, if you are one of those miserable wazzocks who expects that you're going to get a nearly new copy of a rare book for less than its cover price in 1950, then this list is not for you, we suggest that you try looking in dustbins.

We take regular trips to Hay-on-Wye and look around every secondhand bookshop we come across on our travels. Whilst, from time to time, we do find the odd bargain, we usually find that the prices asked for the very few, very common secondhand numismatic books that are being offered for sale make us gasp and stretch our eyes.

Please don't expect that Handboek van het Nederlands Kopergeld van 1523 tot 1797 geslagen in de voormalige Provincies, is going to be intelligible if english is your only language - even if you have been eating a lot of edam cheese recently ! You think I'm joking ?!

Books priced at 5 or less may have their descriptions severely truncated.

Abbreviations are usually obvious. PB = paperback, card covers, etc. HB = Hardback. ND = no date. We assume that you will read repr. as reprint and illustr. as 'illustrated' or 'illustration' and pl. as plate(s); and that pp = pages and not something that you need to keep very quiet about.

Despatch. We visit the post office daily, more frequently just after a list comes out, but, do remember that it takes time to pack a parcel and that we get hundreds of orders - and not just us, we sometimes take to our little country post office more parcels than they can handle in a day ! So, please, have patience. Orders are dealt with in strict rotation and no amount of jumping up and down will bring your order to the top of the pile if it isn't there already. Indeed, we might not even be able to find it !

A non-numismatic friend read through the editorial to one list and commented that he was astonished that our customers bought so much in view of the way that we abused them - I replied that we do not abuse them nearly so much as some of them abuse themselves ! 'How do you get away with it ? ' he asked. 'Simple', I replied, 'the real wazzocks never read either the introduction, or the instructions, or apparently understand the rude comments that apply to them - for how else would they do the same stupid things that they do every time ? '

If you have read this far, the comments about wazzocks probably do not apply to you, and you may even have had the odd giggle here and there; if so, I hope that you'll enjoy reading the rest of the list and finding the books that you'll want to own. Happy hunting !

A NOTE FOR WAZZOCKS (So why are you reading this ?) Why doesn't anyone want a book until it goes out of print ? We then get deluged with orders from all and sundry who would not dream of buying a new book from us under normal circumstances. The feigned surprise on the hearing that it is o/pr gives us amusement. Sorry, but if and when there are items like that we try to reserve them for regular customers, not would-be opportunists who don’Äôt normally buy from us.

BOOKS SENT OVERSEAS There are several options, you will be told what they are when you have ordered. Please note that books sent 'AT YOUR RISK' are precisely that. By and large, books arrive, safely, but if the book gets lost, that's it.

Please remember that secondhand books are not like new ones, we cannot rely on a warehouse for a regular supply. Many of the listings are 'one of a kind'.

Phoning your order to our answer machine. Sure, we'll ring back - if you leave your number ! We cannot be expected to ring back if we do not know it - nor if we cannot understand your garbled and hurried message.

Yes, of course we must have your address because you wrote to us to ask for a list, but that does not mean that we have it to hand, another 250 people may have responded to the ad. So, please do not be angry that I ask for your name and address when you order - even if you have ordered from us a dozen times before. I need to put the name etc., on an order form - to give to the person who packs the parcel - and I get shouted at if everything isn't correct !

Why do I need to know how you spell your name ? People sometimes have different ways of spelling homophonic names, so please help us to get your name right.

What's the easiest way to delay your order ? Ask us a question which needs a written reply when we are at our busiest ! The next easiest is to change your mind, especially when we have just refused another customer the book you have just changed your mind about and no longer want !

PLEASE NOTE that your order will be dealt with as fast as we can possibly deal with it.

People seem to think that books and coins ordered by e-mail will magically achieve a response equally as fast as the delivery of the message, or faster than a letter might. We live in the real world.

If your package hasn't arrived and you are getting twitchy, please phone your local mail office, not us !

Yes, you are an important customer, but remember that you are not our only customer. It often takes a week before we can begin to process the orders that came in a week before, and it is quite likely that at some point we will become a fortnight behind as the list progresses.

Orders are dealt with strictly in the order in which they are received.

NO AMOUNT OF PHONING WILL MAKE YOUR ORDER MOVE FASTER - in fact, the reverse happens, because your call takes us away from processing an order - perhaps yours.

Trade orders are welcome, but please remember that what distinguishes trade orders from others is that they are for quantity - so please do not expect trade discount unless you are ordering a quantity of books.