Using the search interface in the left side-panel, you can search according to limiting criteria.

Once you have located a book you want to buy, click on the basket icon and it will be added to your shopping basket.

You will be able to review and edit the contents of your basket and then transmit your order automatically to the bookseller or booksellers by e-mail, with a confirmatory e-mail to you.

The bookseller will then contact you to confirm the sale and settle payment and delivery details.

The interface in the left side-frame allows you to search for a book or group of books with various degrees of specificity. As a general rule for criteria, less is better. “Steinbeck” will return a more comprehensive list than “John Steinbeck”. 

The words you specify must occur in the relevant database field, so that it is better to leave out any words you feel unsure about.

If your criteria result in a very long list, you can easily go back and refine your search. The results of your search will appear in this main frame while your search criteria remain visible in the left side-frame.

If you cannot find the book you are searching for in the current database, you can add or edit your own list of Wants and you will be informed by e-mail as soon as a match is entered into the database. You need to be a registered bibliophile to do this.

Author: if the author’s surname is a common one, you should specify one or more initials or a first name in addition to the surname. If you are uncertain of the spelling or the name is very long, you can use a wild card * before or after the specified part of the name.

Title: if you are uncertain of the precise title, specify only the part of which you are sure. A few words are usually sufficient. A wild card * is accepted.

Publisher: again, booksellers and publishers themselves over a period of years can be very inconsistent in the formulation of a publishing house name. Minimise your search words.

Keywords: a book will be returned as a match if the word or words in the keyword field occur anywhere in the book entry.

First Edition , Dust Jacket , Signed : a tick in the relevant box will ensure that only those books so specified will be returned. Note that many booksellers do not specify these criteria for every book so that, for example, many books with dust jackets will not be returned when dust jacket is selected. Illustrations can be viewed by clicking on the camera icon.

Binding: the default option returns all bindings including those unspecified by the bookseller.

Language: the default option returns books irrespective of the language in which they are written. If you choose a language, only books specified by the bookseller to be in that language will be returned.

It is usually therefore be worthwhile to tick the “Plus unspecified language” box in addition to selecting a language to be sure of returning all the books meeting your criteria. In the latter case, books specified to be in another language will be excluded.

The number of books you wish to display per page will depend on the speed of your internet connections. If you have a slow download rate, you should specify a smaller number of books per page.

Short and long display: if your download rate is slow or you expect a long list of books to be returned, you should choose the short display which consists of author, title and price. When you find a book of interest, a single click provides you with the long display, which gives all details provided by the bookseller.

Clear empties the search form fields in preparation for an entirely new search.

Reset removes the last made changes to the search form fields if you wish to return to your previous criteria in preparation for a second refined search.