Almark was a company that was hard to get your head round - prolific publisher, of books and the short-lived (I think) magazine Almark Modelworld; producer of the plastic and metal Charles Stadden designed World War 2 wargames figures (see my The Old Metal Detector blog here); and other interests including 54mm figures.
This post is mainly about the books - published in both hardback and paperback versions. With the passage of time the wisdom of investing in the hardbacks has become clear - the paperbacks were produced in the format laughingly called "perfect bound", with individual pages glued into the spine - not a good recipe for frequent use as a painting reference.
Authors included Emir Bukhari, Rene North, Alan Kemp, Michael Head and David Nash. The format included line drawings, colour plates and photographs. They could vary - the Prussian Army volume has delightful line drawings of gnome like figures who look like either children dressed up or early prototypes for Wargames Foundry figures.
I haven't been able to locate anything like a complete list of Almark titles, so have illustrated this post with some of those I have in my library (below). The three advertisments above are all taken from issues of Almark Modelworld.
The Books
6 comments:
Great post, once again. Rene North's Peninsular War book was all I had to form a view of uniforms and organisation when I was thinking of moving to Napoleonics. For many years, the only evidence I had for the existence of units like the Regiment de Francfort or the Valais Battalion were the drawings in North's book.
The later, landscape format books with glossy hard covers were nicely done, too. Some were revisions of earlier books, I think.
Tony
I have a copy of "British Infantry Regiments 1660-1914" that I bought in 1971. Back in those days uniform information was very hard to find and this book was great because it covered such a large time span. However, as you point out, it's not a book I like to open too often for fear the pages will fall out!
Ian
Add Castles and Forts by Terry Wise. Hilary Kemps books on the AWI Stadden on the Lifeguards
Dino Lemonfides on British Infantry Colours and Cavalry Standards .
Bowling on Indian Cavalry regiements
Rene Norths on the Peninsular - mentioned above but also his Waterloo Volume
plus lots of others - 2 on the ACW at least 1 on miniature buildings. Roy Dilley on Model Soldiers.
Several books on Naval warfare- I have 3 or so .
Almark were Osprey before Osprey. They had a wide range and while I have about 20 or so I by no means have even all of the military ones- of WW2 I have only the Japanese one I think .
They are still useful and mine still get used as a point of reference.
I had the English Civil War one, lost it, and found it again at a used bookshop. The same one is at my local library. It was a good reference and I wished I had more of them, but there was only so much lunch money.
Excellent blog- well worth reading if you are my age. Regading Almark books, here are my ones -some repeats from earlier comments. I'm still adding. Some of them have a different format- larger and hardback or much larger and softcover.
Artillery Tactics 1939-1945
German Navy Warships 1939-1945
Royal Navy Battleships 1895-1946
Royal Navy Warships 1939-1945
British Hussar Regiments 1805-1914
American Armoured Cars
Wermacht Illustrated No 1-Afrika Korps Wermacht Illustrated No 2-Panzerjager
Wermacht Illustrated No 3-Panzer-Grenadiers Wermacht Illustrated No 5-Gebirgsjager Wehrmacht Camouflage and Markings 1939-45
Panzer Jager German Anti-Tank Battalions of World War Two
Japanese Army Uniforms and Equipment 1939-1945 Infantry Tactics 1939-1945
Weapons Series German Anti-Tank Guns 1939-1945
German Combat Uniforms 1939-1945
Wehrmacht Divisional Signs
French Napoleonic Lancer Regiments
Battle Class Destroyers
British Military Markings 1939-1945
Tribal Class Destroyers
British Cavalry Standards
British Infantry Colours
Tank Tactics 1939-1945
The Prussian Army 1808-1815
Royal Navy Coastal Forces 1939-1945
Regiments at Waterloo
The English Civil War
Great Battles - Crusader- The Relief of Tobruk
German Army Uniforms 1935-45 Insignia, Arms and Equipment
Wermacht Illustrated No 4-Halbkettenfahrzeuge (German Half Track Vehicles)
Wermacht Illustrated No 6-Panzerkampfwagen (German Tanks)
The Modelworld magazine had 18 issues from Sepot 1972 to Feb 1974 when it ceased because of a paper shortage.
I'm currently painting up a Rapid Fire battalion of Almark British figures with some added Matchbox and Airfix.
great blog
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