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 of MAP (Model and Allied Publications)
shortly after World War II. Founded at Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire,
MAP published a range of modelling magazines including Aeromodeller
and Model Maker and several supporting books such as the Aeromodeller
Annuals.
MAP acquired the long-established Percival Marshal, publisher
of Model Engineer magazine and a range of allied books (several
of which are still in print) and building on these solid foundations,
started to expand its book publishing programme, branching into
more areas of the model hobby area as their magazine interests
expanded. |
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By
the 1970's a large spectrum of hobby activities were reflected
in the MAP list of magazines including model engineering, military
modelling, car, aircraft and boat modelling in addition to film,
photographic and woodworking titles.
The small, independent MAP was bought out by Argus Press in
the mid-70's and the book publishing interests were hived off
to become a company in its own right - Argus Books Ltd. The
late 70's and 80's were good years for Argus; the list based
first at Golden Square in London's Soho and subsequently in
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire continued to expand, benefiting
from the parent company's acquisition of the Amateur Winemaking
magazine and associated homebrew and winemaking book titles.
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When
Argus Press decided that newspapers rather than magazines were
where its future lay, the company was sold to the Nexus Media
group and for a brief period from 1995 to 2001, the books were
published in Swanley, Kent under the Nexus Special Interests
imprint. Nexus in turn made the decision that book publishing
lay outside its core interests and in 2002 sold all of its book
publishing interests to newly formed Special Interest Model
Books Ltd.
Special Interest Model Books' sole interest is
in book publishing with staff who have a long connection with
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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