Books on Coventry

I would think you're right Kaga about the classification. In the mid 1970s there was suddenly a deluge of books about the more secret sides to the war after a 30 year classification was lifted. I was at school at the time, and in the mid-70s the word "Enigma" suddenly started to be bandied about like it had just been invented! I've heard that some secrets have still not been allowed to be revealed..... the mind boggles as to what could be so sensitive after 76 years!

Rob, all My mother would have been appalled at some of the things I did, or the way I had to dress on initiative tests to escape the eyes of the police etc. The training was relentless, no shaving, no haircuts, we were excused normal army drill for weeks on end. Until a few days after VE day, neither did we know what happened to the men on Operation Colossus - classified. In 1954 I set out to try and find what happened to them, but all I had to go on was tales from men that knew about the raid - I failed, but got very close. The path of the Gods on Amalfi mountain range near Salerno was as far as I got. The hole in the Whitley fuselage was dangerous - if you dropped out you had the danger of your chute pack hitting the floor which pitched you forward so that hit your head on the opposite side of the metal floor. If you leaped too much, you still cracked your forehead. A nightmare. The veterans that trained me knew all about Major Larsen whose statue is now at Hereford.

Other than for specific books, I don't know if this has been directly linked to before but it's useful to bring it up again. An archive of many old books you can read for free Ignore the link to the Wayback Machine at the top and type what you're looking for in the search box at the bottom. You can search within the books once you've selected one but, due to incomplete letter recognition, it will miss things. Some copies have original picture some don't.

Spon Street & Spon End book Not cheap but a great book that only periodically turns up. Warning, some of these types of books may be updated and reprinted this year or next. It's an auction book so don't bid each other up. As per usual, this sale is nothing to do with me.

"Closing Time" - Chris Arnot

Helen, thanks. I bought the Spon Street and Spon End book and thought it worth the outlay. Lots of detail. Seems the Family History publications on Spon Street would also be of interest. Does anyone have them?

Hi Prof. The Coventry Family History Society Books, Spon Street and Spon End, are interesting if you are researching families and places in the area. Both are based on detailed lists of the 1891 census and various other name and address lists. There are also some good detailed street maps of the areas. There are a few pictures in both. There is a roll of honour of the fallen in WW1 in both books and a list of those killed in the blitz in Spon Street in WW2. A good couple of books to have on your shelf if you are interested in families there.

I'm glad you got it, Prof. I'd consider it one of the best books about the city, especially as it's dedicated to a specific street, so can cover much more detail. One of these days I might do a review of all the books I've got, including a few useful ones that aren't specifically about Coventry. Admittedly my focus is on very old images but I can appreciate other areas of the city. One of my favourites is a large pamphlet about the car industry with maps of where the factories were and their dates. For pricing, unless a book is in very poor condition (which is rare) or very common, I'll pay the sort of money a modern book would sell for. Only a few have I felt I paid too much and that is based on the poor content, not the condition of the book.

Anne. Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, by 1891 my ancestors had moved out of Spon Street, though still in central Coventry. An earlier period would help, though I have the census of course for all years they were there.

For anyone wanting to quickly begin a nice little Coventry book collection, or expand one, there's this nice little stack of eight local books on eBay at a very reasonable starting price.

Coventry : The Hidden History on eBay. Good book on early Coventry history and archaeology. Good price but there are other copies, so don't worry if you miss this one.

I'd still like a copy of Shelton's 'A Night in Little Park Street', if anyone sees a copy for sale.

There is a copy on Amazon, Neil. They only want £100 for it!!!

There are people snapping up bargains and then reselling at silly prices. I thought I saw a book I wanted, bid on it and then realised it wasn't the one I wanted and let the next bidder have it. The same book is now up for sale for 20 times what I offered.