I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have gone to an archive or library, requested a item from the stacks, only to have it brought out to me with a stern warning from the librarian or archivist to handle the item with extreme care and under no circumstances should I photocopy it. I don’t know about you, but my time is valuable, and research time is nearly a priceless gift. I don’t have hours and hours to sit in a reading room, carefully combing through unit histories, diaries, newspapers and the like and all the while taking notes by hand, a tedious and time consuming task at best. Whenever possible I like to do my reading and research at home. And with the advent of print on demand it is now more possible than ever.
Wardhouse Books is a division of Higginson Book Company and specializes in facsimile reprints of Civil War books. Higginson has specialized in reprinting long out of print genealogy books since 1965 and offers a catalog of over 15,000 titles. Though there are some general reference titles in Wardhouse Books’ latest catalogue, most however are unit histories.
Their books are hardcover facsimile reprints and are reproduced from originals in the Higginson Book Company collection. They are printed on warm white, acidically neutral, sixty pound book paper, and are bound in Class A library bindings featuring reinforced hinges, buckram clothe covers and gold foil spine lettering.
Their catalog is by no means a comprehensive catalog, yet they have a very wide selection of unit histories, though a large part of their catalog lists unit histories of the Union, Confederate units are represented as well.
I have ordered three titles from them so far, the 19th & 93rd Illinois Infantry regiments as well as the 9th Illinois Cavalry. I have seen the originals of all three books at one time or another over the last twenty years, and Wardhouse Books reprinted editions are slightly larger than their original counterparts. To say that I am extremely happy with Wardhouse’s books would be a bit of an understatement. They are wonderful.
My only, and extremely minor, complaint is of the color of the books, red, brown and blue-gray. I’m not quite for sure why there is a color variation. One would think to keep costs to a minimum they would offer only a navy blue or black and yet there is no place on their website to ask for a specific color. I’m guessing that maybe they are trying to match the color of the original volumes or just maybe the color is left up to the whim of the person binding your book.
Their prices are very reasonable. I paid less than $50 for each of the volumes I ordered. Of course the price does depend on the number of pages in the book, but if you were to be lucky enough to be able to purchase an original copy of any Civil War unit history, I dare say you would be spending many times over $50 just for one book. The last copy of the 9th Illinois Cavalry history I saw on eBay when for about $350.
Since Wardhouse Books is a print on demand publisher, you should allow six to eight weeks for delivery, but I was very pleasantly surprised when not one, but both of my orders were delivered in two weeks.
Check out their website at: http://www.wardhousebooks.com/
Wardhouse Books is a division of Higginson Book Company and specializes in facsimile reprints of Civil War books. Higginson has specialized in reprinting long out of print genealogy books since 1965 and offers a catalog of over 15,000 titles. Though there are some general reference titles in Wardhouse Books’ latest catalogue, most however are unit histories.
Their books are hardcover facsimile reprints and are reproduced from originals in the Higginson Book Company collection. They are printed on warm white, acidically neutral, sixty pound book paper, and are bound in Class A library bindings featuring reinforced hinges, buckram clothe covers and gold foil spine lettering.
Their catalog is by no means a comprehensive catalog, yet they have a very wide selection of unit histories, though a large part of their catalog lists unit histories of the Union, Confederate units are represented as well.
I have ordered three titles from them so far, the 19th & 93rd Illinois Infantry regiments as well as the 9th Illinois Cavalry. I have seen the originals of all three books at one time or another over the last twenty years, and Wardhouse Books reprinted editions are slightly larger than their original counterparts. To say that I am extremely happy with Wardhouse’s books would be a bit of an understatement. They are wonderful.
My only, and extremely minor, complaint is of the color of the books, red, brown and blue-gray. I’m not quite for sure why there is a color variation. One would think to keep costs to a minimum they would offer only a navy blue or black and yet there is no place on their website to ask for a specific color. I’m guessing that maybe they are trying to match the color of the original volumes or just maybe the color is left up to the whim of the person binding your book.
Their prices are very reasonable. I paid less than $50 for each of the volumes I ordered. Of course the price does depend on the number of pages in the book, but if you were to be lucky enough to be able to purchase an original copy of any Civil War unit history, I dare say you would be spending many times over $50 just for one book. The last copy of the 9th Illinois Cavalry history I saw on eBay when for about $350.
Since Wardhouse Books is a print on demand publisher, you should allow six to eight weeks for delivery, but I was very pleasantly surprised when not one, but both of my orders were delivered in two weeks.
Check out their website at: http://www.wardhousebooks.com/
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