Obtaining Books

It can sometimes be difficult to obtain for personal purchase of some of the books listed on the reading lists for this course. While we have copies of all of the texts available in Cambridge for borrowing, if you wish to purchase a text for yourself then the following list of links may be helpful. For Internet purchases, you will need either a Visa or MasterCard credit card, or a Visa or Maestro debit card (debit cards are more expensive to use than credit cards). It will be worth your while "shopping around" using the links below and others you may know of, to find good prices and delivery options, or simply for availability.

Please note that all of these are commercial services and links are provided for information only: the listing of any particular bookshop here does NOT in any way constitute an endorsement or guarantee by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese of the services which they provide.

• First of all try Heffers: www.heffers.co.uk (this is now part of the Oxford Blackwell's chain) and other Cambridge bookshops. We send book lists to them before the beginning of each year, so they may well have books in stock, especially in October.
• Then try Grant & Cutler's in London: www.grantandcutler.com (currently they do not have a web-ordering interface: but you can enquire and place orders by e-mail). They have a very large stock, but do check their prices against the Latin American shops below.
• Then try any of the following Latin American and Spanish bookshops.
  • Boutique del Libro at www.boutiquedellibro.com.ar, which has many good cultural and academic books. In our recent experience (September 2002) the service was reliable (2 weeks), the books very cheap (pricing in Argentine pesos), but the delivery rather pricey. They accept MasterCard, but do not appear to accept Visa. Because the books are so cheap, the total cost is still competitive. Using Boutique del Libro: to enter the postcode you have to put in *8 numbers* (anything you like), then in the section marked something like 'observaciones' explain what your postcode actually is and tell them to ignore the numbers! And for DNI put in something that looks plausible, e.g. passport or National Insurance number (it is a required field).
  • Librería Santa Fe at www.lsf.com.ar (Argentina), which seems to have a wide-ranging catalogue, and reasonable delivery prices. However note that if you use the cheapest delivery option (Correo Argentino) the bookshop will not replace lost packages as there is no tracking system under that option. So unless you want to take a risk, choose the pricier DHL, which currently seems to work out at US$12 for a 1Kg package.
  • Librería Ghandi at www.gandhi.com.mx, which is one of Mexico's most established booksellers, although delivery is very pricey at US$27 (for two items). Cheaper, proportionally, if you order several items.
  • Librería Jovellanos at http://www.j-libros.com, which is particularly good for Mexican books, but also other Latin American. The delivery has recently become rather pricey, however, as has generally happened with a lot of on-line book stores. Note that pricing is in Mexican pesos (they tell you what the equivalent is in US dollars).
  • The bookshop of El Corte Inglés (large Spanish Department Store) at http://www.elcorteingles.es (also sells Videos in PAL format and Region 2 DVDs). Delivery by courier, costing about £10 (€15) per order, so it is worth ordering a number of items at a time.
  • The Spanish bookshop Casa del Libro: www.casadellibro.com . We don't have personal experience of using this, but it is a well known book seller.
  • The Spanish branches of the FNAC chain at http://www.fnac.es (also sells Videos in PAL format and Region 2 DVDs). 
• Another UK-based specialist in Hispanic books is Dolphin Book Co (Tredwr), Llandysul, Ceredigion, SA44 6BA  Tel: 01239 654404 (unfortunately, they do not have a web presence).
• You will find books in Spanish also at some of the famous names such as http://www.amazon.com (choose International from the menu at the top of the screen and then Spanish). WARNING: Videos and DVDs purchased from US-based and Latin American sites (except Argentina and Brazil) will almost always be encoded in NTSC format or Region 1, and will not necessarily play on your equipment.
• Finally, if any of you have successfully used an alternative service and can recommend it as a reliable supplier, please let me know, so that we can add to this list of links.

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