Hello, I want to thank everyone who responded over the last week concerning my new Handbook of Old Gallatin County. I've decided to go with all hardbacks which will allow me to reduce the overall price down to $32. A 25 percent pre-order discount brings it down to $24. At around 544 pages I kept looking at paperbacks that size in the bookstore and just didn't think they would hold up to the years of wear and tear a local history book like this should expect. That, and the ability to get the price more reasonable, is why I'm going with the hardbound version. The books will go to the printers in a couple of weeks when the proof-reading is finished and I get in the ISBN barcode for the back cover. However, I'll start taking pre-orders now to help finance this thing. As a benefit for doing this now, you can get the book for 25 percent off the cover price, or just $24 plus shipping and handling costs. The new Handbook of Old Gallatin County contains the complete 1887 History of Gallatin County as published by Goodspeed, two new sections on Early Anecdotes of Gallatin County and Military History of Gallatin County from a variety of 19th and early 20th Century sources (including names of nearly every Gallatin County soldier in the Black Hawk, Mexican, Civil and Spanish-American wars). The fourth section contains more than 250 biographies of Gallatin County personalities, and to top everything off there is a complete name index included. The order form and more information can be found at www.IllinoisHistory.com/Handbook. I'll take checks and money orders through the mail, or you can pay online by credit card and such using PayPal. (I used PayPal for the Egyptian Tales of Southern Illinois and didn't have any problems). Speaking of which, I do still have a limited number of Egyptian Tales of Southern Illinois Vol. 2 books left. It's 102 pages, 8 1/2" x 11", spiral-bound, and contains a number of stories of Southern Illinois history. More information and ordering can be found at www.IllinoisHistory.com/EgyptianTales. I thank everyone for their support. The printers say they take 6 to 8 weeks to print the book so I'm hoping to have it back in early October. Sincerely, Jon Musgrave www.IllinoisHistory.com