i am starting to play the cello and now need to buy a collection of beginner books. i am looking at Melodies By Old Masters For Young Cellists. any other suggestions?

I have found these very good:

Four Strings and a Bow Book 1 - very good for the very early stages, but don't bother with Book 2.
Time Pieces for Cello (ABRSM, 3 books)
First repertoire for Cello by Pat Legg and Alan Gout (Faber, 3 books)
The young Cellist's Repertoire by Julian Lloyd Webber and Simon Nicholls (Faber, 3 books)
Violoncello Music for Beginners, a Hungarian publication, which I think has three books, though I've only got the first one.
If you like Bach, Bach for the Cello, transcribed by Charles Krane, pub. Schirmer

I was lucky to get most of these secondhand and I certainly haven't exhausted the music in them after four years of playing.

Lots out there:

I would agree with the time pieces foe cello and they appear alot in the lower graded exams
also Suzuki Cello School, theres several volumes, these also appear several times in the syllabus, i have just done my grade 6 and was using a volume for that exam.

good luck with it.