www.medievalbookshop.co.uk
Bargain books on the Middle Ages and all related subjects
Contact by email or post & phone
Information pages
The FAQ
page
Why
buy secondhand?
Why
doesn't the site run from a database?
So
how
do I find what I want?
What's
all this about primary and secondary sources?
Why
aren't the books organised by subject?
Why
don't you have standard postage charges?
How will changes to the UK post office's
pricing structure affect my order?
Why
don't you have a shopping cart?
And credit cards?
I
saw
a book on this site the other day and now it's gone - why's that?
What
is medieval?
What
are unused bargains?
I
subscribed to your email list - why haven't I received anything lately?
Why
hasn't anyone answered my email?
There seems to be a certain amount of
inconsistency about the site right now...
What's
this <> symbol I keep seeing?
What's all this about the ISBN system
changing?
What
if this page doesn't answer my question?
Why
buy secondhand?
Because it's
cheap.
Because you
can quite
often get a used hardback nearly as cheap a new paperback.
Because you
can get
something that isn't in print any more.
Because that
first tiny
purchase can be the start of a beautiful long-term love affair with
books.
Because you
can.
Why
doesn't the medievalbookshop site run from a database?
You just
can't
expect booksellers and databases to get along together. It's like
trying
to pretend that bullet points are acceptable.
The current
site is text-based
and has few graphics, so this means pages can load at their optimum
speed,
whether you're using a ten-year old modem or a zippy new broadband. It
also means that it doesn't matter what kind of browser or operating
system
you are using.
There's
lots to browse
on the site. This way you know that by using the navigation links at
the bottom of most pages, you can see it all if you want to -
there's nothing hidden in a database, which means if you really feel so
inclined, you can go through it page by page and item by item - you
won't
have to try and outsmart a computer to find out where it's hidden.
So how
do I find what I want?
Aha. That's
one of the F.
A. Questions that gets its own page.
What's
all this about primary sources and secondary sources?
Basically,
primary sources
are texts written during the middle ages, secondary sources are books
written
by later authors about the middle ages.
When the
site was first
set up this seemed a sensible method to use. It's familiar to most
users
from the bibliographies in printed books, so it doesn't take long to
get
used to on the web site.
As the site
has grown,
it's become increasingly obvious that not all books fit comfortably
into
either of these categories, so new ones have been created (with more to
come in the future). Consider the organisation of the site an ongoing
project, one which will undoubtedly come to fruition within the
lifetimes of many of us.
So
why aren't the books organised by subject?
Every book
listed on this site now has its
own page - this will make it easier for search engines to index the
site and will also allow for various new ways of organising the listing
pages - the eventual aim is to introduce a halfway decent "browse by
subject" mode. Subject pages are (painfully slowly) being added to the
site. You can check what's currently available by clicking here. Pages to browse
by
series and browse by
publisher are also now online.
Why
don't you have standard postage charges?
Because books
come in different
shapes and sizes, and because different destinations have different
postage charges. By and large it seems fairer to charge by weight -
that way customers making smaller orders aren't subsidising the larger
orders.
How will changes to the UK post office's pricing structure
affect my order?
Mostly they
won't, apart from the usual price increases that they impose every
year.
Essentially, the post office is just adding an extra revenue stream to
its existing structure, which won't change for items over 1kg (which
covers a lot of medievalbookshop sales). Smaller items bigger than an
A5 pamphlet are likely to be covered by the new pricing band (called
"large letter"). You can find details at www.royalmail.com
The changes will be implemented in August 2006, and the post
office's annual price increases are due to be unleashed at the same
time.
Why
don't you have a shopping cart?
Sore point,
that. Unfortunately
shopping cart systems don't cope well with large numbers of unique
items
(such as secondhand books with only one copy of each in stock).
Consider
it under construction, in a very long term kind of way...
And credit cards?
Medievalbookshop
has a low turnover, so the charges that would be incurred for running a
secure credit card facility are not currently viable. You can pay by
credit card via Paypal (see Paypal's website for details).
If you don't wish to use Paypal, I can also load books onto the Amazon.co.uk site,
but please note that doing this will sometimes be more expensive
(Amazon charges a commission, and their standard postage charges make
it more expensive for smaller items).
I saw
a book on this site the other day and now it's gone - why's that?
Someone has
either bought
or reserved it: it might still show up on searches, because
the
indexes are only refreshed about once
a month.
Even if the
book you
want seems to have disappeared, you are welcome to enquire: if it has
been
reserved, then you can get first call on it if the sale falls through;
and if it has been bought, you can register your interest in case
another
copy becomes available.
What
is medieval?
It's a very
big question.
So it gets its own page.
What
are unused bargains?
Exactly what
they sound
like - see the unused FAQ
pages.
I
subscribed to your email list - why haven't I received anything lately?
Mailouts are
currently despatched
once a month. Addresses are usually removed from the medievalbookshop
mailout
list if three or four emails have been rejected by your ISP, so if this
has
happened,
you can get in touch as normal and be added back on to the mailout list.
If it has
been much more
than a month since you last received anything, the most common
explanation
is that the company who provides your email has changed the way they
filter
incoming mail - if this is the case, then most likely you need to
adjust
the security settings for your email programme. Medievalbookshop's
lists are sent out as bulk
emails with the recipients hidden, and many internet providers
automatically
filter that kind of email so that it never gets to your inbox.
Two other
common possibilities:
1, your
mailbox
is full and your email company won't accept any more emails for you
until
you delete some of your old mails.
2, your email
provider
has changed ownership and is no longer accepting email for the address
we have on file.
If you have
never received anything from medievalbookshop, it may be that your
emails have not been received - see the query below...
Why
hasn't anyone answered my email?
If I've
received it and it's not spam, I've
usually sent you an answer. However, the business only runs part-time
and
mostly I only pick up email once a day (sometimes less often), so you
won't
always get an answer the same day.
Email isn't
perfect -
usually messages end up where they're intended, but there are several
technical
problems that can occur. For instance, your original message might not
arrive, or my replies could bounce back without being delivered. If
your
email programme allows it, activate the receipt request button every
time you
send
an email - that way you'll know if it hasn't been received.
The
important thing is
you should know you're not just being ignored - if nothing seems to be
happening via email, please get in touch using conventional
mail.
Emails with
blank subject lines or message fields will usually be rejected by spam
filters. If you sent a blank request to join the mailing list, please
note that legally I can't act on it without a specific message - you
need to make a clear request in either the subject line or the
message field that you want to join the
mailing list.
Return
to top
There seems to be a certain
amount of inconsistency about the site right now...
Well, yes.
Work is now complete on rebuilding the catalogue pages, so every book
listed on this site has its
own page. This will make it easier for search engines to index the
site and will also allow for various new ways of organising the listing
pages. The eventual aim is to introduce a halfway decent "browse by
subject" mode, but this will inevitably be rather scrappy for some
time to come ("under construction", as the web's most ubiquitous
euphemism would have it).
As regards the book
descriptions themselves, some are fuller than
others. This is because various categories have been added to the
cataloguing process since medievalbookshop started up: most recently,
an indication of the book's weight has been included in each
description. In 2004, descriptions started including ISBN numbers and
spine width.
These categories will be added to older catalogue descriptions as time
goes
by, but the primary focus is on cataloguing new stock, so it'll be a
long while before all the descriptions are uniform.
What's
this <> symbol I keep seeing?
Don't know.
It's something
Mozilla used to do when it was writing the code for web pages. It
doesn't
actually
mean anything in the context of this web site.
What's all this about the ISBN system changing?
Watch this
space. Or more sensibly, have a look around the web. The current
8-digit ISBN system is apparently coming to the end of its useful life,
so a new 13-digit system is being introduced.
Current policy is for medievalbookshop's descriptions to list
whatever's printed on the book itself, and as most of our books are
secondhand the SBN/ISBN listed will usually be the 7- or 8-digit
varieties
(and in many cases there's none at all). As books start coming in with
the
13-digit
numbers, these will also be listed on the book descriptions. In most
cases the 8-digit ones should be incorporated into the 13-digit ones,
so should still be usable in partial-number searches.
What
if this page doesn't answer my question?
You can use
the links at
the top of the page to get in touch.