The Porcupine's Quill

In Canada

1) Ask your local bookstore to order any of the books you find on our web site. You may have more luck with your local independent than with the larger chain stores. Chapters, for example, will search their database -- but only to see if the book is in stock at Chapters' own warehouse in Brampton. Always take note of a book's ISBN (International Standard Book Number). A prefix 0-88984 indicates the book has been published by The Porcupine's Quill.

Locally we can certainly recommend the services of The Bookshelf Café (Guelph), BookLore (Orangeville), A Different Drummer (Burlington), Bryan Prince Bookseller (Hamilton) and Words Worth (Waterloo). These are among the very finest of independent booksellers in the country.

2) Order from an Internet bookstore.

Amazon.ca usually offers the best selection and cheapest prices of any on-line source for Porcupine's Quill titles.

Chapters: The problem with Chapters.Indigo.ca is that a book which is not in stock at Ingram's warehouse in Tennessee will show a three to five week delivery time. The good news is that as of August, 2005 Chapters was showing seventy-eight PQL titles as in stock and available for shipping within twenty-four hours.

Northwest Passages (Canadian independent virtual store) is located in Kamloops. It may be good for customers ordering from the west.

3) Contact The University of Toronto Press, toll-free in North America.

Have a Visa or Mastercard number ready. You should also know the ISBN number of the title you wish to order (you can find this in our on-line catalogue, by title or by author).

Telephone (toll free) 1 (800) 565-9523 from Canada or e-mail The University of Toronto Press

4)Order direct from The Porcupine's Quill

e-mail PQL

This doesn't work for credit card orders (do not send credit card information via e-mail -- it's dangerous), but we will be happy to issue an invoice. If you are willing to send a cheque in advance we will pay the GST and shipping charges. We normally ship within 24 hours, and we are happy to accommodate rush deliveries by your choice of couriers so long as you are willing to cover the freight costs. And we may even be able to do a deal, particularly on multiple orders such as class sets.

We also accept VISA orders by fax to (519) 833-9845.

From the United States

1) Order from an Internet bookstore

amazon.com  is probably the best source for individuals wanting to order PQL titles in the United States. Currently (August, 2005) amazon is listing eighty-eight PQL titles as in-stock (Lexington, Kentucky) and ready for shipping within twenty-four hours. Amazon is the best site to use for ordering recent releases.

borders.com  is managed by amazon.com and hence is a mirror of the amazon site.

barnesandnoble.com  has recently dramatically improved their offering of PQL titles. Currently they list 161 titles, 75 of which are available for shipping within 24 hours, and most of the rest are available in 2 to 3 days. BarnesandNoble.com may be a useful source for older PQL titles that are unavailable elsewhere. BarnesandNoble is not as good a source for recent releases.

2) Order from a Wholesaler

Ingram  is probably the best wholesale source of PQL titles for libraries and retailers in the United States. Virtually all of our titles are in-stock in LaVergne, Tennessee and also in Oregon.

Baker & Taylor  will special order any PQL title, and they do have a limited amount of our stock, spread all over the US. Best to confirm availability at bookmanager.com

3) Contact The University of Toronto Press, toll-free in the US: 1 (800) 221-9985

Have a Visa or Mastercard number ready. Also be ready with the ISBN number of the title you wish to purchase. Otherwise  e-mail  The University of Toronto Press

4) Order direct from The Porcupine's Quill

e-mail PQL

This doesn't work for credit card orders (do not send credit card information via e-mail -- it's dangerous), but we will be happy to issue an invoice. If you are willing to send a cheque in advance we will pay the GST and shipping charges. We normally ship within 24 hours, and we are happy to accommodate rush deliveries by your choice of couriers so long as you are willing to cover the freight costs. And we may even be able to do a deal, particularly on multiple orders such as class sets.

We also accept VISA orders by fax to (519) 833-9845.

From Other Countries

1) Order from an Internet bookstore

amazon.com  is probably the best source for PQL titles ordered from outside North America, but amazon.ca  may be cheaper.

In England most of our titles are available on amazon.co.uk   usually with eight day dispatch.

In Germany most of our titles are available on amazon.de   usually with eight day dispatch.

In France most of our titles are available on amazon.fr usually with thirteen day dispatch.

In Japan most of our titles are available on amazon.jp

2) Contact The University of Toronto Press, who can handle Visa and Mastercard sales by e-mail. Be sure to include the ISBN numbers of the titles you wish to purchase.

e-mail  The University of Toronto Press

3) Contact The Porcupine's Quill in Ontario, Canada:

e-mail PQL  This doesn't work for credit card orders (do not send credit card information via e-mail -- it's dangerous), but we will be happy to issue an invoice. If you are willing to send a cheque in advance we will pay the GST and shipping charges. We normally ship within 24 hours, and we are happy to accommodate rush deliveries by your choice of couriers so long as you are willing to cover the freight costs. And we may even be able to do a deal, particularly on multiple orders such as class sets.

We also accept VISA orders by fax to 01 (519) 833-9845.

The Porcupine’s Quill is remarkable in Canadian publishing in that most of the physical production of our journal is completed in-house at the shop on the Main Street of Erin Village. We print on a twenty-five inch Heidelberg KORD, typically onto acid-free Zephyr Antique laid. The sheets are then folded, and sewn into signatures on a 1907 model Smyth National Book Sewing machine.

To take a virtual tour of the pressroom, visit us at YouTube for a discussion of offset printing in general, and the operation of a Heidelberg KORD in particular. Other videos include Four Colour Printing, Smyth Sewing and Wood Engraving. Photographs of production machinery used on these pages were taken by Sandra Traversy on site at the printing office of the Porcupine's Quill, December 2008.