Which "book(s)" complements "Combinatorial Problems and Exercises by László Lovász"?

Question

I am trying to prepare for my entrance exam/interview to an Integrated-Master's and PhD programme in Mathematics in my country.

Currently, I am an undergraduate student.

I have been told that "Combinatorial Problems and Exercises by László Lovász" is a book one must master before one may consider oneself to be a strong PhD/Masters candidate in the field of combinatorics.

So, could anyone please guide me with regards to which books I could follow in order to learn the theory required to solve the problems in this book?

I have only just developed a fascination for combinatorics (I am a first year undergraduate student). Hence, it would be very helpful if anyone could provide a list of books that begin at the introductory level.

Thank you!

(I don't know why this question was closed? There are many such soft-questions on stackexchange. Furthermore, how else will a person who has no access to high-quality resources as those in the developed world know from where to study, unless such questions are asked.

Please reconsider and open the question.)

Answer 1

Some suggestions listed here:

• "A Course in Combinatorics" by J.H. van Lint and R.M. Wilson
• "Introduction to Combinatorics" by Martin J. Erickson
• "Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science" by Ronald
  L. Graham, Donald E. Knuth, and Oren Patashnik
• "Enumerative Combinatorics" by Richard P. Stanley
• "Combinatorics: Topics, Techniques, Algorithms" by Peter J. Cameron