Books on Genealogy

Paperback, second edition, by Mark D Herber.

In association with the Society of Genealogists this book is a complete guide to British genealogy and family history.

Ancestral Trails guides you through the voluminous British archives, extending back to medieval times, and provides a detailed view of the records & published sources available. From newspapers & directories, civil, legal & religious records to personal recollections, photographs & other memorabilia, every kind of record is analysed & the researcher is guided to the many detailed finding aids or indexes.

Winner of the Library Association McColvin Medal for Outstanding Reference Work. This is the Second Edition published in 2004 in paperback with 873 pages.

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New edition, by Anthony Adolph.

The new, fully-updated edition of Collins Tracing Your Family History is the definitive handbook for anyone interested in tracing their family's past.

Firmly practical in its approach, yet entertaining in its style, this reference guide is the indispensable companion for all who are seeking a reliable, one-source volume to use while tracking down their family origins.

New and up-to-date content helps you make the most of your resources - such as how best to utilise the internet, and informs you about the most recent records released which could be vital to your search for your ancestry.

The book gives comprehensive guidance on the full variety of governmental, religious and more obscure records available to the family history sleuth. The guide also contains highly useful advice on how to expand and reinvigorate a search when the trial runs cold - as it inevitably will.

Author Anthony Adolph balances detailed instruction and guidance with humorous anecdotes and illuminating history lessons, ensuring an informative and entertaining read.

'Definitive advice for anyone interested in tracing their family's past.' Family Tree Magazine

'...the information is superb.' Ancestors

'The overriding feeling about this book is that it is bending over backwards to try and assist researchers, providing answers by almost pre-empting the questions.'

'Enthusiasm and quirky knowledge (that) makes this book stand out.' Family History Monthly

Anthony Adolph is a professional genealogist, writer and broadcaster. He was Research Director of the supporting company of the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies and now has his own genealogy practice. He has written numerous articles for the genealogical press and has appeared frequently on television and radio.

* Collins Tracing Your Family History has so far sold over 100,000 copies

* This major new edition incorporates the latest changes, particularly how to search on-line for birth, marriage and death certificates and census returns.

* Acknowledged to be the most authoritative yet accessible book on the subject.

246x189mm; hardback; 320pp

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Scottish Genealogy is the comprehensive guide to tracing your family history in Scotland. Using worked examples & addressing the questions of DNA, palaeography & the issues of Clans, Families & tartans, Bruce Durie presents a fascinating insight into discovering Scottish ancestors. He covers both physical & electronic sources, reminding the reader that there are more routes to follow than the internet.

* Hardback with 319 pages.

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This latest edition of The Family and Local History Handbook offers a host of new, original and unpublished articles commisioned by the publishers.

This new book comprehensively covers everything from beginning your family history to areas of specific research, as well as advice on using the internet, digital technology and military sources.

Listings of over five thousand useful addresses and contacts are at your fingertips at all times.

Described as 'The ultimate genealogy book' the Handbook is leading and essential reference for everyone undertaking research and falls into 'the must-have category'

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From the makers of the award-winning BBC series and Dr Nick Barratt, the UK's leading authority on family history, comes the definitive, must-have guide to researching your family's roots and bringing your family history to life. Containing all you need to know, whether you're a new beginner or more experienced researcher.

Covering all access levels, from the new beginner to the more experienced researcher, the Encyclopedia of Genealogy is a comprehensive master class in solving the mysteries of your personal heritage. Begining with advice on the very first steps, before providing a detailed explanation of the range of sources you will encounter when trying to flesh out your ancestor's lives.The Encyclopedia is divided into sections, each a fascinating standalone reference article so that you can easily pick and mix the relevant information according to the route your journey through your family history takes you. The Encyclopedia of Genealogy guides you through:

*Getting started, including research planning, sources, how to construct a family tree and working online

*Going further, combining historical context (from military history to migration and family secrets) with practical advice on sources

*Troubleshooting the most common problems such as common surnames and missing ancestors

*Use of DNA such as DNA profiling services

*Organisational tools such as designing a website and information about software and community projects.
Everything you need to bring alive your family tree.

Hardback with 531 pages

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Peter Christian and David Annal
A compelling up to the minute guide to using the census in your family research. Written by bestselling author Peter Christian and TNA expert David Annal. This fascinating guide shows how the census can transform your family research.

Paperback with 262 pages

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To accompany the third series of the award-winning BBC television series, this book gives the amateur genealogist all the tools to trace their ancestors back over six centuries, taking them on a fascinating historical journey into the past.

For the first time in a popular genealogy book, author Anton Gill and "Who Do You Think You Are?" family history expert Nick Barratt have created a wonderfully readable book which takes the reader back through time past the usual family tree landmark of 1837, when birth, marriage and death registration were made mandatory, to allow the reader to trace their ancestors back to Tudor times. Much more detailed than the previous tie-ins, this book will explore the history which led to the dispersion of the population, it will look at local genealogy and connect the history of Britain with the people who lived during the times and the records they left.

Whether your 17th-century ancestor was a merchant seamen listed on the muster rolls, or of a trade registered through the Livery guilds of Newcastle, Yorkshire or London; a midwife licensed by the church from medieval times (in case they had to baptise a sick baby at birth); an alehouse owner (victualler) who was licensed from the 1500s onwards; or an afro-Caribbean immigrant from the 1700s, this book fills the gaps in your family tree and gives you the resources to search out your medieval ancestors.

This book is a guide to tracing your family tree back for six centuries, into the time of Tudor kings and peasant uprisings, through a fascinating array of historical resources. It is also a fascinating social history of the peoples of the United Kingdom and how they were shaped by the events of their times.

Hardback with 240 pages

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By J.A. Watkinson. This guide gives you all the information required to research your UK ancestry with illustrated examples, trees, documents and the essential addresses of societies and organisations. It gives practical information about how to go about creating a family history and drawing up trees manually or by computer. Also includes a list of common Latin terms and meanings.

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This book is an index to the marriage index books first published by W.P. Phillimore in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Each volume will be available on CD and this book acts as an index to them. Volumes 1 to 4 for Hampshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Norfolk are also available in book-form from S&N.

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This guide throws light on the naval & maritime history of Britain & its empire. It includes public records deposited outside the National Archives in the National Maritime & the Post Office Archives. It also refers to some documents now in the British Library, Cambridge University Library or the Bodleian Library Oxford. Second Edition, edited by Randolph Cock & N A M Rodger.

Softback with 383 pages

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William Spencer is the principal military specialist at the National Archives. Whether you are tracing an ancestor, squadron, air base or campaign, this second edition is an invaluable guide to Britain's air force past.

Softback with 160 pages

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William Spencer has been the National Archives' military specialist since 1996 & this book provides an insider's knowledge of existing & forthcoming material. Whether you are tracing an ancestor, auxiliary service, regiment or campaign, it is an invaluable guide to Britain's military past.

Softback with 168 pages

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This short guide provides basic facts and explains how the taking of the roll was orgainsed, and how to access the information it contains. The Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll was a unique collect of fifty leather-bound volumes and contains the names of those who donated a guinea to the Wesleyan Methodist Million Guinea Fund.

*Contains 16 pages

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A directory of local holdings of microfiche in Great Britain, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. This is the sixth edition updated in 2001. By Jeremy Gibson and Elizabeth Hampson. Where your nearest port of call is.

Paperback with 56 pages

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Criminal Ancestors, A guide to historical criminal records in England and Wales

Many of our ancestors lived through difficult times; some resorted to crime for the most trivial offences. A genealogist who discovers a criminal in the family tree will need to know how to trace that person, and for this Criminal Ancestors is an invaluable guide.

David Hawkings' revised and updated study includes surveys of material held by all County and Borough Record Offices, The National Archives, police arachives and other repositories, as well as numerous example cases and illustrations, appendicies with source material and a case history to show the extent to which one individual criminal can be researched.

This unique and richly illustrated book provides the essential reserch and reference tool which no genealogist, social historian, criminologist or the simply curious should be without.

Softback with 492 pages

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This book concentrates on the understanding, identification and dating of Victorian photographs. By Robert Pols

Paperback with 112 pages

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The successor guide to Dating 19th Century Photographs by the same author concentrates on the understanding, identification and dating of photographs from the last century. By Robert Pols

Paperback with 127 pages

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This booklet provides vital information on how to get started on your family history prior to starting researching on the internet. It provides a number of useful websites and addresses to help guide you in the right direction. By Kathy Chater and Simon Fowler.

* Contains 30 pages

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This booklet defines many common terms, including abbreviations and acronyms. A few Latin words and terms are also included to help aid research on the family history trail. By Stuart A. Raymond.

*Contains 47 pages

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Ancestry-tracing is fun; it brings history to life and it gives a greater sense of personal identity. Our ancestors become real people; they may have been ordinary, blue-blooded or famous, but whatever they were the search itself is rewarding. Tracing a family history and gradually constructing one's own unique pedigree is an absorbing hobby, a never-ending detective investigation. This book tells the beginner exactly how to set about it: how to collect information from living relatives, how to make full use of all existing clues and traditions, how and where to find written records and what information they can be expected to provide as well as the likely problems that may be encountered and possible ways to solve them. Many books have been written for the would-be genealogist but none has ever equalled the success or popularity of Arthur Willis's Genealogy for Beginners. Since it was first published in 1955, this readable little guide has introduced far more ancestry-tracers to the subject than any other. Now it has been completely revised and re-written by Karin Proudfoot, so that it is once more the most up-to-date book on the subject and the best buy for the beginner of today.

Paperback with 126 pages

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Capture and preserve your family's memories for future generations.

How often have you thought that when the older members of your family are no longer around, your precious family history will disappear with them? This book is a wonderful project which all the family can enjoy. Younger family members will love hearing the fascinating stories of relatives' lives and older relatives will thoroughly enjoy recounting them. This book will ensure that your family memories will be preserved for future generations.

This ring-bound book includes a sections on Getting Started, along with sections for storing photos (sticky pads included) and memorabilia.

Hardback.

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This book will help you to identify individuals by searching the many hundreds of badges of all descriptions, whether they be regimental, trade and proficiency or badges of rank. Badges are also separated into groups of cap, collar, shoulder and arm badges. There is also a section on medals. By Iain Swinnerton.

Paperback with 119 pages

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This book describes this interesting way of enhancing your family history. Guidance is given on what to collect, keeping records, and where to look, including what to look for at collectors' fairs. By Philip J. Chapman 16 pages

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"Introducing Family History" by Stuart A Raymond is an up to date beginners guide, detailing how and where to start your research and where to research further with all the main Internet sites, publications and contacts etc. 146 pages, full colour throughout, this is our recommended starting out book for those new to Family History.

Paperback with 148 pages

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After dealing with the basic grammar of Latin, this book examines the structure & vocabulary of the records used in local & family history research, including episcopal visitations, church court records, sepulchral inscriptions, wills, manorial court rolls, charters & deeds.
There is a glossary of more than eight hundred words & a final chapter explains the abbreviations used in medieval Latin.

Paperback with 130 pages

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The purpose of this bibliography is to draw atttentions to the wide variety of occupational information on Londoners that is available in print. These sources include biographical dictionaries, record publications, guild histories, archival guides, trade directories, regimental histories etc. This book lists these publications in an alphabetical arrangement by occupation. Compiled by Stuart A Raymond.

* Contains 72 pages

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This book provides the reader in essence with a casebook, offering discussion on a series of examples of old photographs scaling from the victorian and edwardian eras and early georgian years, up to and including the First World War. By Robert Pols

* Contains 80 pages

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Medieval Genealogy provides an account of the records available and the techniques needed to find and understand them. By Paul Chambers.

Hardback with 275 pages

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Roger Kershaw is Head of Records Knowledge at the National Archives, specialising in historical migration to & from the United Kingdom. This book is packed with practical, up to the minute advice. From refugees fleeing persecution to child migrants, citizenship papers to details of transportation, it is an invaluable guide to the journeys that changed so many lives.

Softback with 160 pages

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The aim of this book is to outline the history of Parish registers, to assess the value of the evidence they provide & explain how to use them. By Stuart A. Raymond.

* Softback with 61 pages

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This guide is in four parts, the first three, by counties of England and Wales, geographically arranged, listing the surviving records of each Poor Law Union in turn. The fourth part is a Gazetteer of the places in each Union. By Jeremy Gibson and Colin Rogers. Second Edition.

* Contains 72 pages

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This guide is in four parts, the first three, by counties of England and Wales, geographically arranged, listing the surviving records of each Poor Law Union in turn. This fourth part is a Gazetteer of the places in each Union. Second Edition.
By Jeremy Gibson and Frederic A. Youngs Jr.

* Contains 76 pages

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Researching Scottish Family History is a detailed and informative guide for tracing your Scottish ancestors. This 120 page guide provides information on Scottish research, detailing resources currently available on more traditional and online based resources. As well as having useful tips throughout.

Paperback with 120 pages.

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This comprehensively covers all aspects of family & local history, with listings of over five thousand useful addresses. Each edition complements the previous, providing new articles on all aspects of Family, Local & Military History.

Softback with 448 pages.

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The purpose of this book is to act as a ready refernce source in which all genealogists researching in England and Wales will be able to find definitions of terms and pointers to the information they seek. Compiled by Stuart R Raymond.

* Contains 262 pages

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The Penguin Dictionary of British Surnames is a useful and fascinating guide to the surnames that offer a unique insight into the place of origin, the occupations - and even the personality traits - of our ancestors. Detailed and informative, this dictionary covers the widest range of British surnames and is essential reading for anyone intrigued by the story of their name and by the history of their family. This edition replaces our out of date (and out of print) 1967 edition.

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Written by legal records experts & advisers on family history, this second edition is fully revised, up to the minute & packed with helpful advice.

Softback with 160 pages

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