Persephone Books discussion

I apologize if this topic has been discussed or info already given. I searched and found no such discussions.

As a fan of older works that are frequently out of print & not yet available on the public domain (those that are less than 75 y/o), I've found a couple of online websites that have decent prices and with whom I've done satisfactory business. I hope this info will help in your search for a favorite book that's now out of print. Happy Reading!

Alabris Books:http://www.alibris.com/
Thrift Books: http://www.thriftbooks.com/

And for those books that are available on the public domain as they're 75 years old or older, my favorite site is Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/

ABEbooks.com is also a good source.

KnowledgeGeek, do you happen to have a list of the ones on public domain? I have found the following at https://archive.org/ :

Consequences
Fidelity
Flush
The Mystery of Mrs Blencarrow
No Surrender
Amours De Voyage
Reuben Sachs
Journal of Katherine Mansfield


I like to track down second hand Persephones at www.bookfinder.com , but www.abebooks.com usually ends up the cheapest. Occasionally, www.biblio.com will have something. I find that Alibris and Amazon marketplace tend to be higher than ABE, but every now and then a renegade book will pop up by a seller who doesn't realize what he's selling (create a Persephone wishlist and watch the used book prices fluctuate. Great fun for those with OCD, but one must be very patient). There's also a nice seller on Amazon called Beyond the Sea who sells new editions at fair(ish) prices and includes a matching BOOKMARK!!!! (Be still my heart!) I only mention this because I just received The Young Pretenders wrapped up in lovely blue tissue paper with a kind note attached. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main?ie=...

I'll be interested to hear what other sources people have found. Wish I could just buy them all new from Persephone and be done with it, but the exchange rate chokes me before I can hit the purchase button.

I've found these at Project Gutenberg:

The Making of a Marchioness
The Shuttle
The Runaway

I'm not seeing The Runaway at Gutenberg. *sniffle*

Mumzie wrote: "KnowledgeGeek, do you happen to have a list of the ones on public domain? I have found the following at https://archive.org/ :

Consequences
Fidelity
Flush
The Mystery of Mrs Blencarrow
No Surrend..."

I would love to be able to order directly but when you add the shipping to the US, whoa! I may have to bite the bullet for the ones I really want but haven't been able to find at all.

I'll keep my eyes open for you, Cynthia, in case they cross my path. Which ones?

"Consequences" and "The Shuttle" can be had for $.99 at a website called girlebooks.com. There a lot of great reads there that can be downloaded to nook or kindle, all $.99. You can download to either device just by typing in girlebooks into your shop line. It's a great resource.

If you don't mind ebooks, I'd recommend openlibrary.org. The public domain books link up to the archive.org database, although in my opinion Open Library makes for better searching/browsing. Also, Open Library has some older, out-of-print types of books available for borrowing. I LOVE this option for reading those hard-to-find mid-20th century titles. Not a lot of Persephone books are available for borrowing, but I've encountered a few. The loan period is 2 weeks. Hope this helps! :-)

Mumzie wrote: "I'll keep my eyes open for you, Cynthia, in case they cross my path. Which ones?"

Oh, Mumzie, that is so kind of you but I would never ask you to do that. What a sweet thought.

Thanks everyone for all of the suggestions! That's the nice thing about reading older books...it can be easier to find them for free or inexpensively. :)

I guess the day is getting closer that I buy an ereader.

Cynthia, I love books and never thought I would like an e- reader as much as I do. I love the little grey persephones I have, but they're hard to find and so expensive when I order them from England. The thing to remember about an ereader is that it's just another way to feed the addiction. Not instead of, but in addition to "real" books. And if you love older, out-of-print books, there's an awful lot of free stuff out there.

Diane wrote: ""Consequences" and "The Shuttle" can be had for $.99 at a website called girlebooks.com. There a lot of great reads there that can be downloaded to nook or kindle, all $.99. You can download to e..."

Diane wrote: "Cynthia, I love books and never thought I would like an e- reader as much as I do. I love the little grey persephones I have, but they're hard to find and so expensive when I order them from Engla..."

Dumb question, Diane, because I really don't know about these things. I don't even have a smartphone. So can I buy these inexpensive books and download them to a Kindle? I don't have to just buy from Amazon?

Hi Cynthia! Diane will probably have more to contribute, but with the Kindle, you can only purchase things from Amazon (and some of those are free or inexpensive). However, if you buy a Nook, it has access to Google Books, which also has many free public-domain books. (and obviously, you can buy books for the Nook through B&N)
Hope this helps!

I have a Nook HD, because, as Gina said, the Nook has access to Google apps. The Kindle app is free, and I have access to anything that Amazon has through that source, as well as Barnes & Noble ebooks, and can download from google free books and Project Gutenberg. I would think the Kindle Fire should be able to download from on-line sources, but I'm not sure. I know you can't get B&N books on the kindle, but most ebooks are available in both places. One thing about the Nook is that there is in-store support should you have questions, and most stores have classes for beginners. I know Sue Drees has a Kindle, you could check with her.

I am lucky because my employer, the Omaha Public Library, last year bought two copies of EVERY SINGLE PERSEPHIONE TITLE!! They have been hugely popular and I read nothing but Persephone's for MONTHS!! Ask your public library to purchase them -- they might balk, but it never hurts to ask!

Cynthia wrote: "Diane wrote: ""Consequences" and "The Shuttle" can be had for $.99 at a website called girlebooks.com. There a lot of great reads there that can be downloaded to nook or kindle, all $.99. You can..."

Check your public library's website and see what kind of content you can download to your ereader, even Kindle, for free. Yes, even Kindles. Worth checking out if you are going broke trying to get everything you want to read!

Gina wrote: "Hi Cynthia! Diane will probably have more to contribute, but with the Kindle, you can only purchase things from Amazon (and some of those are free or inexpensive). However, if you buy a Nook, it ha..."

AMazon got a lot of backlash and bad publicity when they first launched the Kindle because folks could not use them to access free books from their public libraries. They soon came to realize that they were alienating a lot of readers and now you can download library titles to a Kindle. IF your public library has ebooks available, you chould check it out.

Thanks for all the helpful info, Rose Ann! Yes, I was so happy to hear that Omaha purchased all the Persephones - now I just have to work on my public library in Minnesota! :)

Thank you everyone for all the advice.

When I asked my library for the Miss Buncles, they bought the Sourcebook editions. So at least I got to read them. I don't think they'd spring for Persephones.

Mumzie wrote: "I'm not seeing The Runaway at Gutenberg. *sniffle*"

My mistake. The Runaway is available on Google Books for free.

Susan wrote:

My mistake. The Runaway is available on Google Books for free."


Thanks, Susan.

Bree wrote: "If you don't mind ebooks, ..."

Thank you for sending me over to Open Library. I've found more than a hundred books that were on my general reading list. It took me a while to figure out how to get them onto my iphone app, but now I'm having so much fun I can barely stand it.

They do have Round About A Pound A Week on there, available for epub, pdf, or transfer to kindle.

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL78832...

The Squire by Enid Bagnold is there too.
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15152...

I will keep my eyes peeled for others.

These are all great resources. Thanks to everyone for their sharing.

I've found William - an Englishman on Project Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53032

Thank you all. I didn't know many of your sources of books. ;-)

To Cynthia: I use a tablet with Android (8 inches). This way I have in one device a few different software to reading e-books: Kindle, Google Books and a software (I recommend Moon+Reader) to other ebooks (e.g. from gutenberg.org). I also read on my tablet books from OpenLibrary (through a web browser). I could also install Nooks and Kobo but as for now, I didn't see a need.
All those software to reading (and buying) are free, so there isn't a problem to install them on your tablet.

By the way, you don't have to use Kindle (or a tablet) to read e-books you buy on Amazon at all. You can also read them on Web browser on your computer. So, you don't have to buy any device.

[But, I prefer to hold my tablet sitting on a couch than my laptop at my desk or on my knees on a couch.]

On The Persephone website, if you go to ebooks, they actually provide links to several of their books that are available in the public domain. I know Fidelity is on gutenberg, and Consequencesis available at Girlebooks, along with others

Yes, I have gotten their very helpful list. Two other great sources for free books are https://www.fadedpage.com/ and https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/

I usually download to my computer, then email to my kindle address, but you will have several choices of reading location. FadedPage is a Canadian site, and regularly adds titles. For Persephone, I know that Gwethalyn Graham's fabulous book Earth and High Heaven, along with her Swiss Sonata, can be found there.

No love for LibriVox?

https://librivox.org/

They make free audiobooks of books in the public domain, including many obscure and largely forgotten works. It is a seriously underrated resource. Hell with Audible.

Eileen wrote: "No love for LibriVox?
https://librivox.org/
They make free audiobooks of books in the public domain, including many obscure and largely forgotten works. It is a seriously underrated resource. Hel..."

I love LibriVox too. And some readers (voices) are marvelous. (Alas, there are also those who shouldn't read for the public.)

If you would like to see the original publication dates for Peresphones, this blog has done all the work: http://www.stuckinabook.com. Looks like the oldest was from 1806: #84 A New System of Domestic Cookery by Mrs Rundell and the newest is #102 The Exiles Return from 2013