I would also add that there are quite a few acceptable older Sanskrit grammars and primers available in the full-download part of Google books these days. Just searching on “Sanskrit” (without “primer” or “grammar”) gives the best results, here.
Coulson does seem dense, but if you’re into that, it looks good. I rather like having all that information to review.
EDIT: I just noticed this on Amazon: > http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Sanskrit-Part-Thomas-Egenes/dp/8120811402/ref=pd_sim_b_1/102-7825556-6889705
It looks like it’s almost too slow moving, but I think that’s definitely an advantage at this point.
I own that book; it does move slowly. It introduces two cases per lesson, and I learned all the cases and the present active and middle endings after working about halfway through it. I also like how it introduces the sandhi gradually. If you wait until Friday when i’m home, I could give you a more detailed review.
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Hi, I worked a little bit with a 19th c. Sanskrit primer by Perry, which was okay, but I stopped after a short time. When I decided to try it again, I gave up on the traditional script and used the book by Gonda which was presented in transliteration (though it does introduce the script briefly). I liked it much better, but I just used it to get an overview of the grammar and compare it with Greek, and I only did about half of the exercises. It doesn’t proceed lesson by lesson, but instead offers a concise descriptive grammar, and then has some translation exercises and a few reading selections at the end.
~N