Skip to the content
Reply

Esperanto books

by richardhall, July 25, 2007

Messages: 11

Language: English

richardhall (User's profile) July 25, 2007, 11:17:47 PM

I recently obtained a copy of 'Jen Londono!', a 'Ladybird Book' published in 1971. (For non-Brits, Ladybird is a popular and wide-ranging series of children's books) I was surprised to discover that they'd published an E-o volume: presumably it means that they believed there was a market for children's books in Esperanto back then. Was this simply wishful thinking, or was there a greater confidence in the Esperanto community in the 70's?

erinja (User's profile) July 26, 2007, 12:58:03 AM

There wasn't a market for Esperanto children's books back then, but I had a sneaking suspicion about this book - I checked up and it turned out to be correct. London hosted the UK ("Universal Conference") of Esperanto in 1971. It's not uncommon for the host country of the UK to somehow acknowledge the presence of a couple thousand Esperanto speakers coming there. Sometimes it's a postage stamp, or promotional material, or whatever. Someone gave me an Esperanto-language tourist map of Zagreb and a couple of other Zagreb-related brochures from an Esperanto convention held there - published by the Croatian government.

I remember seeing a glitzy Esperanto-language promotional DVD about Beijing that the Chinese government put out prior to the UK that was held there (of course, the Chinese government runs an Esperanto publishing house that produces stuff on Chinese culture and some amusing communist childrens' books, so perhaps this isn't the best example)

Mendacapote (User's profile) July 26, 2007, 1:13:19 AM

I think that in the 70’s the confidence in the community of Esperanto wasn’t any stronger than nowadays… actually it was weaker. What forced them, though to publish such “risky” books? The lack of other way to spread Esperanto! Do you know how many printed books of Esperanto I actually have? None! I have downloaded many books from the Internet and home-printed some of them. Here in Caracas it’s literally impossible to find a single book in Esperanto in any bookstore. Only in the bookstore of the Venezuela Esperanto Societo you could find a few of them. Back in the seventies I would have bought as many printed books as possible… there wasn’t any other option!

Miland (User's profile) July 26, 2007, 1:00:48 PM

Mendacapote: Here in Caracas it’s literally impossible to find a single book in Esperanto in any bookstore.
Actually other countries are not that much better. Recently in London I looked in vain for any books on E-o in the biggest bookshops. The language is very much a minority interest, so that only used book dealers and E-o societies sell books on it. I found my copy of Teach Yourself Esperanto in an Oxfam charity shop in Birmingham before discovering the EAB.

markotraviko (User's profile) July 28, 2007, 3:36:24 PM

I just received several books through the ELNA book service.

There seems to be no shortage of titles to choose from. Those in countries who are having trouble finding books about or in Esperanto might try joining an organization with a good book service such as ELNA(Esperanto-Ligo por Norda Ameriko) or the omnipresent Universala Esperanto- Asocio. Members of these organizations receive a dsiscount for their orders (my books from ELNA Book Service came with a 10% discount).

One of the books I received is particularly informative for English speakers: "Being Colloquial in Esperanto" by David K. Jordan.

I also received several others including the proverbial "Pasxoj al Plena Posedo" and still on it's way in the mail is "Nova Fundamenta Krestomatio":a modernized version of the famous book, "Lasu Min Paroli Plu":Claude Piron's companion "romaneto" to "Gerda Malaperis",& several others (I went crazy with my order).

I'll give you guys some reviews "en la estonteco".

markotraviko (User's profile) July 28, 2007, 3:46:36 PM

markotraviko:I just received several books through the ELNA book service.

There seems to be no shortage of titles to choose from. Those in countries who are having trouble finding books about or in Esperanto might try joining an organization with a good book service such as ELNA(Esperanto-Ligo por Norda Ameriko) or the omnipresent Universala Esperanto- Asocio. Members of these organizations receive a dsiscount for their orders (my books from ELNA Book Service came with a 10% discount).

On the other hand you can use their book services without actually joining the organizations.

One of the books I received is particularly informative for English speakers: "Being Colloquial in Esperanto" by David K. Jordan.

I also received several others including the proverbial "Pasxoj al Plena Posedo" and still on it's way in the mail is "Nova Fundamenta Krestomatio":a modernized version of the famous book, "Lasu Min Paroli Plu":Claude Piron's companion "romaneto" to "Gerda Malaperis",& several others (I went crazy with my order).

I'll give you guys some reviews "en la estonteco".

erinja (User's profile) July 28, 2007, 5:04:54 PM

Another book service-related hint - if you can't or won't pay the somewhat high prices for some new Esperanto books, ELNA also maintains a list of used books that you can buy. It's under a special link on their main book catalog website. The used book table is among my favorite aspects of any Esperanto event; aside from the good prices, it is also a chance to get books long out of print and no longer available.

RiotNrrd (User's profile) July 28, 2007, 6:49:39 PM

Miland:Actually other countries are not that much better.
It's certainly true here in the US. None of the major booksellers (with one exception) appear to carry any eo titles. At Barnes & Noble I can get plenty of books on Icelandic, Danish, and Czech, but nothing on Esperanto.

I live in the Portland, Oregon, area, and I was able to find some books at Powell's, but didn't buy any because of the absolute rip-off prices. A used paperback copy of "Teach Yourself Esperanto" for something like $80. Little tiny (and old) dictionaries for $50. Etc. Utterly ridiculous. Prior to learning about the ELNA bookstore, I managed to find my (used) copy of TYE on Amazon for $15. Now that I'm "in the know", though, the ELNA bookstore is the only place I've found worth looking at.

Kwekubo (User's profile) July 29, 2007, 10:31:27 AM

Another place you could try for second-hand books at decent prices would be the Butler Library in England, which keeps a huge list of second-hand books that are no longer needed in the collection (for example, if a better copy has been acquired). And there's also the second-hand section of the UEA bookshop in Rotterdam.

erinja (User's profile) July 29, 2007, 2:01:28 PM

Way back when, when I was learning Esperanto (ok, not so horribly far back when, it was about 1995) you could get at least a couple Esperanto books at most major bookstores. They usually carried the Teach Yourself dictionary by Wells, the Conroy dictionary/phrasebook, and the Teach Yourself book - the one with the tapes. I bought my Teach Yourself dictionary at Borders, I believe. And then a second one because I lost the first.

Back to the top