Oakwood Press quality diminishing

[julianblack]

Hi.

Is it just me or has the quality of the Oakwood Press titles deteriorated since being taken over by Stenlake Publishing?

I have recently bought their title on the Gloucester to Ledbury branch. And I must say that it it leaves me feeling somewhat underwhelmed.

I have been buying books from the Oakwood Press for over 40 years and this is my 219th book from them. Though some of their titles have been a little pricey, I always thought that they were good value for money. This is the first Oakwood Press title that I have purchased since 2021. The previous title cost £15.95 for 112 pages whereas with the new title there is only 80 pages for a cost of £14.95. In addition, it looks like the font size for the latter title if 20% larger, thus reducing the amount of text. Finally, the quality of the prose is quite not up to the high standard that I come to enjoy from Oakwood Press titles of old.

This book was purchased unseen based upon my previous experiences of the publisher. I will not buy another of their titles unseen, and unless they revert to form, I have a horrible feeling that this might be my last title from the Oakwood Press.

Opinions please...

 

[John Luxton]

Hi.

Is it just me or has the quality of the Oakwood Press titles deteriorated since being taken over by Stenlake Publishing?

I have recently bought their title on the Gloucester to Ledbury branch. And I must say that it it leaves me feeling somewhat underwhelmed.

I have been buying books from the Oakwood Press for over 40 years and this is my 219th book from them. Though some of their titles have been a little pricey, I always thought that they were good value for money. This is the first Oakwood Press title that I have purchased since 2021. The previous title cost £15.95 for 112 pages whereas with the new title there is only 80 pages for a cost of £14.95. In addition, it looks like the font size for the latter title if 20% larger, thus reducing the amount of text. Finally, the quality of the prose is quite not up to the high standard that I come to enjoy from Oakwood Press titles of old.

This book was purchased unseen based upon my previous experiences of the publisher. I will not buy another of their titles unseen, and unless they revert to form, I have a horrible feeling that this might be my last title from the Oakwood Press.

Opinions please...

I bought a copy of the recently released Severn Bridge Railway when I was at the Welshpool and Llanfair Rly the other week and noticed it was in a larger format that the original series.

The Severn Bridge has always fascinated me ever since reading an article on it in the Railway Magazine in the 1960s.

However, compared to Ron Huxley's book The Rise and Fall of the Severn Bridge ( I have the first edition) the new Oakwood book seemed rather lightweight.

 

[Gloster]

I recently bought the book on the Kington lines, which was bit hit and miss. However, I have bought ones in the past that were a bit thin, and not always because there was little information on the subject, or somewhat unbalanced: pages and pages of newspaper reports on the plans, proposals, construction and opening of the line, and then only a mish-mash of assorted information about the line’s life, such as lengthy general histories of loco types that worked on the line. So I wouldn’t write off Oakwood just on the basis of one or two below par examples.

I wonder if the problem is that there are fewer of the reliable historians (insert names here) with a depth and breadth of knowledge that used to turn out reasonably high-quality books for Oakwood on a wide variety of lines. Nowadays the remaining authors tend to concentrate on a single subject and become in-depth experts on that line, but they want to use all they have discovered and that is far too much for Oakwood. There always was the problem that each author did things their way: there wasn’t a strict style that they had to follow.

 

[julianblack]

I bought a copy of the recently released Severn Bridge Railway when I was at the Welshpool and Llanfair Rly the other week and noticed it was in a larger format that the original series.

The Severn Bridge has always fascinated me ever since reading an article on it in the Railway Magazine in the 1960s.

However, compared to Ron Huxley's book The Rise and Fall of the Severn Bridge ( I have the first edition) the new Oakwood book seemed rather lightweight.

I have Ron Huxley's book as well. That is why I did not consider buying the Oakwood Press title on that line. I'm rather surprised that you feel that Colin Maggs' book is lightweight, as he is one of what I think of as "old school" railway history book authors.

If you want some good photographic coverage of the Severn Bridge I would strongly recommend Volume 2 of Lightmoor Press' British Railway History in Colour series.

 

[John Luxton]

I have Ron Huxley's book as well. That is why I did not consider buying the Oakwood Press title on that line. I'm rather surprised that you feel that Colin Maggs' book is lightweight, as he is one of what I think of as "old school" railway history book authors.

If you want some good photographic coverage of the Severn Bridge I would strongly recommend Volume 2 of Lightmoor Press' British Railway History in Colour series.

Yes I know that Colin Maggs has produced other works and thought I would see his take on the subject. Perhaps its the new stretched format that makes it lightweight as one can get more in on the page. Anyway not finished it yet as I became distracted with another book for past few days. I do have the Lightmoor book.

 

[Gloster]

I have just received the latest Welsh Railways Research Circle Newsletter and it includes one or two comments, from what appears to be a reliable source, that follow on from reviews. It seems that Oakwood’s current policy is to produce ’one-stop’ histories that are not intended to be definitive ones covering every aspect of the subject. Instead they should be ‘concise, and, as far as possible, precise, attempts to give some coverage to all aspects of a particular line or area’.

 

[julianblack]

Which is diametrically opposed to the output I expect currently from the Lightmoor Press, and from previous output from Irwell Press, Oakwood Press and Wild Swan Publications. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a place for lighter works but it is just a shame that it appears that Oakwood have gone down this road. This is coming from someone who, as a teenager, use to frequent the OPC bookshop in Oxford and regularly chatted to Colin Judge and Jane Kennedy.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

Having interests in specific areas, East Anglia for one, I have many of the Middleton Press books relating to same, but have also purchased a handful of Oakwood Press books that although overlapping (subject wise) to some degree, I have as a rule, found to be more detailed, particularly if the subject is a limited length branch line. I guess the content as such is down to the author's dedication to the task in hand, although publication costs etc will no doubt be a factor in such matters. I am somewhat piccy when it comes to buying new books these days, be it railway or other matters. Far too many seem to be just a rehash of old works, and something just full of pics and captions (the latter sometimes woefully inaccurate) doesn't bode well for the book industry, and I say this as someone who will buy a book every time, rather than via any more modern means.

 

[John Luxton]

and something just full of pics and captions (the latter sometimes woefully inaccurate) doesn't bode well for the book industry, and I say this as someone who will buy a book every time, rather than via any more modern means.

There is one particular publisher based in Gloucestershire which seems to churn out many transport, local and industrial history books of this ilk. I hardly ever even consider buying their titles any more.

Also in Gloucestershire is another publisher of transport and industrial history books that does it right - Lightmoor. Just bought a copy of the new "Brendon Hills Iron Mines and West Somerset Mineral Railway" after browsing a copy at the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway shop this past weekend.

That is how to do books!