Many of the older books will have to be read in the library.

Some may  be kept in secure storage and need to be brought out or delivered to your library so prior booking may be arranged.

Some l ibraries have internet  searches for books and the facility for books to be ordered or prebooked.

County Record Offices also holds a large number of reference books.

To buy books

Other sources of new and used books are  online retailers such as Amazon with used books available on E-Bay.

Local book shops and museums often are the best source for local books.

There are many specialised books shops on the internet who stock old books but these are often expensive.

Online Books

Nowadays there are several sources of local history books on line.

The two most reputable are Project Gutenberg which is an American web site dedicated to publishing online books that are out of copyright.

The second recommended site if Google Books which uses the Google search bar then click on books and search

The third site is internet archive which lists many old books.

A warning that both are American based which means that some items may be out of copyright in USA but are still subject of UK copyright