Tuesday, 7 October 2014

Ian Allan book counter


A mouth-watering selection of Ian Allan transport titles at their book counter, apparently at the Meccano showrooms in London, somewhere that I hadn't heard of before. The date of this magazine insert would appear to be around 1962, when the company were probably the most well known transport book publisher in the UK, thanks in no small part to their 'ABC' series of pocket books used by spotters from the 1940s onwards. Looking at this selection, I realise that I have a number of them, although not always in the best condition! There are many well-used copies around, that is, with copious underlings, that unmarked editions can fetch a pretty penny in eBay these days.



On the reverse of the sheet is an order form for the purchase of postcards, mainly from the Locomotive Publishing Company (LPC) series. Ian Allan took over this collection, introduced in 1899, in 1956, subsequently passing to the National Railway Museum in 1992.

Although still a transport book publisher, their catalogue is much reduced and their large stable of magazines have now been sold off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Allan_Publishing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locomotive_Publishing_Company