Ordering On-Line
To order on-line choose On-Line Catalogues from the On-Line Shopping menu above. You can search using key words using the facility at the top of the Catalogue page. Alternatively you can browse through the various sections. When you find something you want to order click the Add To Order button. You can see a list of what you are ordering by using the View Cart button; it is possible to remove items from your order if you change your mind.
When you are satisfied with your order go to the Checkout page and continue to follow the directions on the screen. If you meet with any problems with the system please either order by phone or fax (see below) or e-mail us for advice.
If you cannot find the book you want on-line please phone us or use the Contact page or Book Finding page to let us know what you want.

Ordering By Phone 01780 766266
We are happy to accept telephone orders and enquiries during shop hours (9:30 - 5:00 Monday to Saturday, see Opening Hours for more detail). This is our usual way of doing business - it's what we're here for. You can check the availability and order anything listed on this site or in our printed catalogues by phone; please quote the titles and book reference numbers.

If there is a book you want that is not listed just ask. We may well have it in stock anyway, if not we'll look out for it for you (unless it is extremely rare).

We can accept any Visa, Mastercard, Switch or Maestro card or will reserve books for up to ten days to await your cheque (payable to Robert Humm & Co). Or you can collect in person and save the postage.
If you find it hard to get through by phone look on our News page to see whether we have recently issued a printed catalogue - our two phone lines get very busy at this time.

Ordering By Fax 01780 757929
or E-mail Books@RobertHumm.co.uk
If telephoning does not suit you you are welcome to send your order or enquiry by fax or e-mail. Again, please quote the titles and book reference numbers. If you have the choice use fax which is instant and accessible to our counter staff. E-mail is not constantly monitored and may be uncollected for several days at busy times.

Availability
Please note that books listed in our printed catalogues sell rapidly; when ordering from these check first that what you want is still available.
On the Showcase and Bargain sections of our on-line catalogue books that are already sold are marked as such and cannot be ordered. We are happy to look out for another copy - just ask. It is theoretically possible for two customers to order the same book at once. This seldom happens and when it does we sell the book to the first-comer (the orders come to us time-dated).
Be aware that new books may go out of print without warning. There is a fuller note about availability of our new stock on the Book Descriptions And Availablilty page.
Please let us know if any book is essential to your order.

Dispatch
We aim to send out most small orders within 24 hours and larger parcels within 7 days, but if your order coincides with theissue of one of our printed catalogues please allow up to 21 days. Please let us know if timing is important.

Post and packing (shipping)
Post (shipping) and packing is charged at cost on all orders.
UK Orders
Online orders are sent second class post or by Initial City Link, depending on weight*, unless first class post is requested.
     *For most inland deliveries over 1 kilo we use Initial City Link who provide a careful next-day service to an attended address at a competitive price. See note below.
Small items of high value are sent by Special Delivery.
Overseas Orders
Online orders to Europe are normally sent airmail. Surface mail is seldom significantly cheaper. See the note about France below.
Online orders beyond Europe are sent by surface mail unless airmail is requested. We recommend airmail for more valuable packages as the insurance cover is higher.

Your choice is therefore between economy (parcel or second class postage / surface mail) and speed (first class postage / airmail). Economy is the default; if you want speed please let us know - there is a box in the checkout section where you can do this. UK parcels over 1kg have the double advantage of speed and economy with the ICL service.
Surface mail to Australasia and the Americas takes between 8 - 10 weeks; airmail takes about a week.
Here is a rough guide to how much a package containing one book might cost to send.

	UK		Europe	Beyond Europe
	2nd Class	1st Class	Airmail	Surface	Airmail
Paperback booklet, about 100 pages	£1.70	£2.00	£3.00	£2.50	£5.00
Octavo hardback, about 250 pages	£2.50	£3.20	£4.30	£4.00	£7.00
Large quarto, about 200 pages	Too heavy	£5.90	£7.10	£6.70	£12.90

This is only a guide - all parcels are weighed and priced individually. Several books in a parcel naturally go more economically than just one. If you are in any doubt please contact us before placing your order.
Insurance
All orders are sent at buyers' risk unless the appropriate insurance is requested and paid for. Many of the delivery services we use now carry built-in insurance. If in doubt, please ask.
Small items of high value are sent by Special Delivery which we have found to be the most efficient and reliable of all the Royal Mail services.
Third Parties: Our customary method of dispatch is by mail direct to the buyer. Any request to mail books to a third party (for example, as a gift or to a shipping agent for onward transmission) will be accepted only on condition that Robert Humm & Co will not be responsible for any loss or damage in any stage of transit, nor will be involved in any investigation into such loss or damage.
Under no circumstances will goods paid for by credit card be mailed to any person other than the card holder.

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Initial City Link
Most inland deliveries over 1 kilo (about two largish books or three smaller ones) are now sent by Initial City Link (ICL), who provide a careful next-day service at a competitive price.
Every ICL consignment must be signed for on receipt so it is essential that it goes to an attended address where this can be done. If you are usually away during the day we can have your consignment delivered to a neighbour or place of work, or any other address that is convenient to you. Please make your intentions clear to us at the time of placing your order; you are welcome to phone to discuss delivery, our staff know the best options and will be happy to advise you.
Where a parcel cannot be delivered and the customer then requests it to be redirected to another address, ICL will levy a charge of up to £10 per item for this service (the charge tends to vary from depot to depot). This sum must be paid to ICL through us before they will re-deliver.
ICL consignments cannot be delivered to PO Box numbers.
If you prefer us to use the Royal Mail parcel service this can be arranged. However parcels by Royal Mail are sent entirely at the buyer's risk. Royal Mail is still quite reliable but when a parcel does go astray their claims procedure is cumbersome and reluctant: the full value of the parcel is seldom recoverable.

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Orders From France
Every year we send hundreds of books abroad through the post. Even in these times of troubled public services the system still seems to work well. Transit times are longer than we would wish but I don't think we have ever lost a parcel (I hope I am not tempting fate here) to Germany and Japan, while mail for Holland and Denmark often arrives quicker than UK inland post.
Our one black spot is France. In fact every missing foreign parcel in the past three years has been to a French address. Apparently the problem is partly the attitude of the French customs, and partly large-scale postal theft especially in the Paris region. But even when a parcel survives the actual delivery seems erratic. We sent a valuable book to Paris by Swiftair for next day delivery, with all the documentation correctly completed. Six weeks later the package was returned here, and it was obvious that no attempt at all had been made to deliver. It was marked that the recipient had 'gone away' which was nonsense.
Every time one of these French parcels goes astray we go through all the time-consuming form filling required. Royal Mail will say that the package was tracked to the point of export but there is nothing they can do about the vagaries of foreign administrations. Sometimes we get a nominal amount of compensation, sometimes nothing.
An expensive but reliable solution is to use PSL Europe. This is a specialist carrier who deliver our larger or more valuable consignments to the Continent. Their service is a bit slower than airmail, but the goods are fully insured and for big packages - say over 8-10 kilos - it is quite economical. Nevertheless there is a minimum charge of about £16, which is quite an overhead on a £20 or £30 book. But until matters improve the only options for French parcels are PSL or the ordinary post service which must be entirely at the customer's own risk.