Conway Publishing

Conway Publishing, formerly known as Conway Maritime Press, is a division of Anova Books, a London-based independent publishing group.

History

Conway Maritime Press was founded independently in 1972. Its origins lay in catering for a specialised readership, publishing quarterly journals such as Model Shipwright and Warship, which would subsequently evolve into the popular annuals still existent today. These, along with the long-running Anatomy of the Ship series, published in conjunction with the Naval Institute Press in the United States, have become stalwarts of the Conway catalogue. Over its near 40-year history, it has built an extensive catalogue of books specialising in maritime heritage, ship design and construction, and naval military history, from authoritative figures such as Brian Lavery, 'one of the best naval historians in Britain, if not the world,' according to BBC History Magazine.^[1] Nautical Magazine wrote, of Richard Endsor's Restoration Warship, 'From the dust cover into the book and right the way through it, this is a magnificent publication with a tremendous amount of detail.'^[2]

Conway Publishing

In 2005, Conway Maritime Press was acquired by the Anova Books Group. It was around this time that the press became Conway Publishing. Whilst still committed to producing specialist maritime books, Conway have broadened their catalogue to incorporate general, military and aviation history, exploration, as well as railway and scale modeling (with Hornby and Airfix), amongst other related topics.^[3] In line with the current heritage culture espoused by television shows such as BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? and coordinating with several recent international anniversaries, Conway has recently released a series of popular nostalgic reproduction wartime pocket-books ranging from officers' manuals, the Spitfire, to the Home Guard.

In recent years, Conway has found success with several television series tie-ins. Conway produced the books to accompany James May's Toy Stories and the Dan Snow presented 'Empire of the Seas', both aired on the BBC. The latter book, written by Brian Lavery, would become a No. 2 Sunday Times Bestseller. In April 2010, Conway attained the book rights to Bruce Parry's Arctic adventure, to be broadcast on BBC2 later in the year.^[4]

Anova

The Anova offices are situated in West London, in a listed former Magistrates Court, complete with a wooden-panelled courtroom (once frequented by Rolling Stone Brian Jones), and individual prison cells now used as storage space.

Bibliography

A selection of works:

Annuals and Series

• Shipwright (formerly Model Shipwright)
• Warship
• Anatomy of the Ship

Television Accompaniments

• James May's Toy Stories, James May (2009) ISBN 978-1-84486-107-1
• Empire of the Seas, Brian Lavery (2009) ISBN 978-1-84486-109-5
• Arctic, Bruce Parry (2011) ISBN 978-1-84486-130-9

Featured Works

• Face to Face: Polar Portraits, Huw Lewis-Jones (2009) ISBN 978-1-84486-099-9
• The Restoration Warship, Richard Endsor (2009) ISBN 978-1-84486-088-3
• Hitler's Army, David Stone (2009) ISBN 978-1-84486-084-5
• The Voyage of the Beagle, James Taylor (2008) ISBN 978-1-84486-066-1
• The Marine Art of Geoff Hunt, Geoff Hunt (2004) ISBN 978-1-84486-000-5
• Nelson's Navy, Brian Lavery (1989) ISBN 978-0-85177-521-0

Pocket-Books

• The Spitfire Pocket Manual, compiled and introduced by Martin Robson (2010) ISBN 978-1-84486-120-0
• The Secret Agent's Pocket Manual: 1939-1945, Stephen Bull (2009) ISBN 978-1-84486-103-3
• Not Enough Room To Swing a Cat: Naval Slang and its Everyday Usage, Martin Robson (2008) ISBN 978-1-84486-073-9
• The Royal Navy Officer's Pocket-Book, 1944, edited by Brian Lavery (2007) ISBN 978-1-84486-054-8

Conway Authors

A list of Conway authors (in alphabetical order):

• John Blake
• John Bowen
• Philip Dawson
• Richard Endsor
• Peter Goodwin
• Jean Hood
• Geoff Hunt
• Andrew Lambert
• Brian Lavery
• James Lees
• Huw Lewis-Jones
• James May
• Bruce Parry
• Antony Preston
• Martin Robson
• David Stone
• James Taylor

References

1. ^ Duncan Redford, 'Review', BBC History Magazine (March 2010)
2. ^ 'Review', Nautical Magazine (March 2010)
3. ^ 'Introductions', Writers' News (June 2010)
4. ^ Katie Allen, 'Parry explores Arctic for Anova', Bookseller (23 April 2010)