Perhaps you know a good book on Sanskrit

Cafe Society
1

Does anyone have any suggestions for a first course in Sanskrit suited for self-teaching and a useful book on devanagari script?

I like books where the grammar and syntax are front-loaded. Ample technical notes are also good. Bonus if the primer contains real passages and not just lifeless sentences invented by starving grad students.

Many thanks.

2

If nothing else, you could just read the first part of a Hindi book for learning Devanagari. Though I think there are a few differences between Sanskrit and Hindi orthography; I think Sanskrit pronounces an ‘a’ after a word-final consonant where Hindi normally wouldn’t.