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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