Book Descriptions: The accuracy of our descriptions is fully guaranteed and we offer a 100% refund on all sales (including delivery charges) should you feel your purchase is not as described. Simply e-mail us to let us know you are dissatisfied within seven days of receipt and return the book in its protective packaging to receive your refund.
Book Gradings: Our book gradings are based on standard definitions used by reputable book dealers throughout the world and by leading authorities such as the UK’s ‘Book Collector’ magazine.
Photographs: Additional photographs are available for all our books on request. The photographs used for our internet listings are low resolution versions of our originals with file sizes of only 50k to 100k - our original photographs measure 1280 x 960 pixels with a file size of approx 500k and are therefore considerbly larger and show much more detail. If you would like to see the original, high resolution versions of the photographs used in our listings please contact us. However if you don't have broadband please remember each photograph will be approximately half a megabyte and may take some time to download.
Our Prices: Our goal is to sell quality books at sensible prices. We're always happy to receive offers for our books and discuss discounts for multiple purchases.
Reserved Titles: We appreciate it's not always possible to pay immediately for a rare book you've been searching for and we're happy to reserve any of our titles, without obligation, for up to four weeks. Please contact us using the email link at the bottom of the left hand panel to discuss your requirements.
Communication: We aim to respond to all queries received before 6:00pm GMT Monday to Saturday the same day as they are received - however when attending auctions this is not always possible. Queries received after 6:00pm, on Sundays or Bank Holidays will be replied to the following working day.
Payment: We are pleased to accept payment by personal cheque (£Sterling only please, made payable to "Somer Books"), PayPal, credit card (via our PayPal or Abebooks accounts) or postal order. Please do not send us cash through the post.
Please allow 7 working days (i.e. excluding Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays) for us to clear cheques - we will e-mail you to confirm safe receipt of your cheque and e-mail you again to confirm despatch of your books once your cheque has been cleared. If paying by eCheque please note that PayPal can take up to 10 working days to credit your payment to our account.
Order Despatch: Orders are despatched Monday - Saturday (excluding Bank Holidays). We aim to despatch all orders within 24 hours of payment being received - however when attending auctions this is not always possible and despatch may occasionally take up to 48 hours.
Packaging: All books are wrapped in a protective bubble bag which is then placed inside a padded envelope. For added protection orders of £10 and above (excluding delivery charges) are despatched in heavy duty custom book mailers instead of padded envelopes. For overseas deliveries we recommend all books are protected by using cardboard book mailers. Please note that after experiencing significant delays with some deliveries (most memorably, over 100 days to the East Coast of the United States!) we no longer ship books by surface mail - all overseas shipments are therefore quoted for airmail delivery only
Delivery Problems: Should a book fail to arrive or arrive damaged simply e-mail us to confirm your name, address and the fact that your book was either damaged or not delivered. In cases of non-delivery we will refund your money in full (including delivery charges) on receipt of your e-mail if your book has still not been delivered 14 days after posting (30 days for overseas shipments). In cases of damaged delivery we will refund your money (including delivery charges) once the damaged book has been returned to us together with its original packaging.
Previous Ownership Details: On occasion we obtain books with interesting previous ownerships. Brief biographical details of such previous owners together with photographs of their bookplates and signatures (if present) can be viewed on our Featured Titles: Previous Owners - Biographical Details page.
We’d also like to hear from you! Please click on the "Your Comments" link in the left hand panel to let us know if there are any ways we can improve our service to you.