Aeromodeller Books

[Cilinia Looker]

hijust been sorting some books out(from long term storage-the loft). Could anyone tell me what happened to Harleyford Publications? I've got a few of these excellent books, but not seen anything new from them in the past few years?

Just jogged my memory, I've got a "Scale Models" mag by Model and Allied publications from 1968, which I got as a schoolboy, with an article on the Spitfires used in the "Battle of Britain" film done by Mark12.

The background story to Harleyford Publications was covered in an article in "Flight" back in the 1960s. I found them a very helpful and highly professional group of people. Somewhere I still have a detailed letter from Bruce Robertson. He took the trouble to answer individual queries related to his area of expertise; he commented on some WW1 aircraft manufacturing material I had inherited.

The leading light of Harleyford was Mr. D.A.Russell who was Editor & Publisher. He had done the same at Aeromodeller since 1934. It seems he named Harleyford after the place where he lived (a cottage in the grounds of Harleyford Manor).

Mr D A Russell was, I believe, father of Capt M C Russell - Mike Russell of Russavia. Glider enthusiast, airline pilot and main man behind Duxford's pleasure flying service during the 80s. He passed away a few years ago as well.

I hadn't realised until this thread that my copy of "Spitfire..." was an MAP reprint. I'm not sure I even consciously knew they owned Harleyford.

As it was bought around 1980 from the DH Museum, it had to be a reprint.

My "Lancaster..." is an original though - charity shop about 5 years ago.

D.A. Russell was the publisher and/or editor of Model Aircraft magazine in the 50s and 60s. IIRC, it was then incorporated into AeroModeller which is presumably when the Harleyford brand came into the MAP range.

Total titles: 1,638 RCL is... RCLibrary is a collection of old-time modeller books and periodicals, held online as PDF files for free download. Everything here is free. The library is open to everyone - you don't need to register or log in to download.

Hi Mary and Andy, the book in question is The Golden Book of Airplane Stamps by Paul Jensen, published by Golden Press. My copy has what I suspect is a printing date of 1966 and an original copyright of 1954. This was and remains fifty...

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Hi Fred - it's good to hear you're enjoying RCLibrary. We don't have any paper listings. This website is our 'catalogue' and everything is available for free download :)

Mary : Best of the Golden Age of Flying Models : 26/03/2020

As regular RCL readers will have noticed, I haven't added much new to the Library for a while. Didn't someone say that life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans? I'm afraid life is leaving me less and less time to work on RCL. So, I've reluctantly decided not to add any new titles for now, while I work out what comes next for the site. Mary x

07/05/2020

You've probably noticed the new look to RCLibrary. We're making a few changes to the site template so it works better on different devices. It's not quite right yet - please bear with us as we tweak things. Any feedback from you about what you do/ don't like, is most welcome :)

20/11/2019

Hi everyone - apologies for the lack of new titles in the past few days. Also if you've emailed me recently & you're still waiting for a reply. My son is having major spinal surgery tomorrow, for the second time in a couple of years & I'm struggling to focus on plans, planes & magazines. Please be patient over the next week or so. I will catch up eventually, I promise. Mary xx

25/07/2019

Hello everyone! Steve and I are heading to the seaside today, for a few days R & R. I won't be working on RCLibrary while I'm away, so I'm afraid there'll be a few days with no new books or magazines. Normal service will resume when we're home :) Mary x

04/05/2019

Special Interest Model Books represents one of the finest lists of model hobby books available in the English Language.The publisher was born under the banner ofMAP (Model and Allied Publications) shortlyafter World War II. Founded at Eaton Brayin Bedfordshire, MAP published a range ofmodelling magazines including Aeromodellerand Model Maker and several supportingbooks such as the Aeromodeller Annuals.

MAP acquired the long-established PercivalMarshal, publisher of Model Engineermagazine and a range of allied books(several of which are still in print) andbuilding on these solid foundations, startedto expand its book publishing programme,branching into more areas of the modelhobby area as their magazine interestsexpanded.

When Argus Press decided that newspapersrather than magazines were where its futurelay, the company was sold to the NexusMedia group and for a brief period from1995 to 2001, the books were publishedin Swanley, Kent under the Nexus SpecialInterests imprint. Nexus in turn made thedecision that book publishing lay outsideits core interests and in 2001 sold all of itsbook publishing interests to newly formedSpecial Interest Model Books Ltd.

Special Interest Model Books' sole interest is in book publishing with staff who have a long connectionwith the model hobby areas of publishing. The company was founded in Poole, Dorset by Chris Lloyd, who had been acting as the sales and marketing agent for Nexus books since 1993.

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