Has anyone noticed how difficult it is to find family history magazines on the shelves in book shops, newsagents and the like? I subscribe to a couple of magazines, but like to pick up copies of the others if they have articles that are of particular interest.

Now that Borders Bookshops have disappeared from the High Street it seems that the only way to get copies of Family Tree, Practical Family History etc etc is to pay out for a subscription. Is this the beginning of the end for specialist magazines?

One recent innovation is “Discover My Past England” & “Discover My Past Scotland”. These magazines are subscription based and are delivered via the internet so that you have the option of printing off a copy or reading totally online. The subs for these magazines are £2.50 per copy or £7.00 for three issues. The publication monthly and is 40 pages in length and the preview of the first pages seemed to be of a good standard. However compared to “Who Do You Think You

Are”’ which is 98 pages for a cost of £4.99 I think “Discover My Past” is a trifle expensive, especially as they don’t have printing, transport and seller’s commission to include in the price. What do you think? The new Mad About Forum would be a good place to give your opinions on the pro’s and con’s of genealogy magazines.

http://www.discovermypast.co.uk/

I was at the London launch of the Apple ipad recently and after having had a good play with the device I can see that in the near future we may all be having our magazines delivered and read via such gadgets. However tempting as it was I left the store without purchasing, my pocket at that moment wasn’t full of up to £699.00 of loose change! Also I must say that the clapping and cheering by staff after each and every purchase was a major turnoff for me!!

Find My Past has announced that there are to launch an online magazine called “Discover My Past”, they already have a Scottish Genealogy online magazine and this new publication is to be an English version. The cost is to be £7 for three issues. There is a preview button which shows you the first 6 pages of the current issue.

http://england.discovermypast.co.uk/?utm_source=product_update&utm_medium=fmp_email&utm_term=reg&utm_content=101109&utm_campaign=dmpe_magazine

You can preview online a copy of this genealogy magazine published by Bright Solid, the Scotlandspeople firm. It is a monthly publication and a years subscription costs £25.00.

http://subscribe.discovermypast.co.uk/9

Don’t forget to check out Dorset books on Archive.org, a search using the word Dorset brought up 335 entries.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=dorset

Google Books have 22,910 Dorset books so you might want to make a cuppa before you start to browse!

http://books.google.co.uk/books?q=Dorset

Gosh the county of Dorset has some good websites for genealogists!! Check out Dorsetshire.com which offers the Domesday Book, old maps and much more.

http://www.dorsetshire.com/

Pen & Sword Books publish an amazing array of book that are of great interest & value to any genealogist or history lover. I’m a great fan of their books and can recommend them. You can buy them through The Book Depositary which offers free postage worldwide, a great saving when some book sellers charge as much for the postage as for the book.

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk

Here is the description from the front page of this website.

Our Roots is a library, archive, museum and school all in one. Check the collection to find Canadian local histories in French and English. Check Educational Resources for learning packages for students and teachers. Check back with us often – we’re always adding more.

http://www.ourroots.ca/

Sigma Books is a small independent publisher, specialising in publications for the local and family historian. At present, most of our publications relate to the counties of Suffolk, Berkshire and Yorkshire. Our range of books and CDs is gradually expanding, so it is always worth having a look at the News page to see recent additions to our range. [New CD of East Ilsley wills published 1 June 2009]

http://www.sigmabooks.co.uk/index.html

Well these books seem a real bargain at the right price = free!!

@Home with Your Ancestors.com:How to Research Family History using the internet – Diane Marelli

Free genealogy book, just download it and enjoy. Covers the basics and beyond.

http://www.howto.co.uk/family/family-genealogy-tree/

Tracking Down Your Ancestors – Harry Alder

Free genealogy book, just download and enjoy. Covers quite an extensive range of aspects and genealogical records.

http://www.howto.co.uk/family/family-history-books/

The Beginners Guide to Tracing Your Roots – Diane Marelli

Free download of this book. Using her own family as an example Ms Marelli show how she traced her roots.

http://www.howto.co.uk/family/family-tracing/

The chances of your ancestors being mentioned in the Domesday book are pretty remote. That’s not to say there aren’t people mentioned, but it might be a tad difficult to prove a connection between yourself and someone in the Domesday Book! Anyone out there who has traced back that far?

Anyway in it’s own right it is an interesting document and here are a few links to web sites on the subject.

The Domesday Book Online site allows you to look up the places mentioned in the book and you can read what is said about them. You can purchase a copy of your towns entry for £12.95.

http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/index.html

Wikipedia of course have an entry for it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book

At the University of Hull site it seems you can download a translation of the whole book plus accompanying documentation. Handy if you intend to make a life time study of it!

http://edocs.hull.ac.uk/muradora/

Domesday Explorer has several nice features including slide shows of the background history of the book

http://www.domesdaybook.net/

Last, but not least there is The National Archives – the people who look after the actual books for the nation. There web site has information for all ages.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday/