Show shunts book into bestseller list (From The Oxford Times)

Show shunts book into bestseller list

6:00pm Wednesday 18th January 2012 in News By Andrew Smith

It's full steam ahead for staff at a niche Oxford publisher after one of its books became an unexpected bestseller.

Old House Books and Maps, part of the Osprey Group in Botley, has seen its reproduction of Bradshaw’s Handbook, a Victorian guide to Britain’s railways, break into the top six in the Amazon UK bestsellers list on the back of the TV programme Great British Railway Journeys.

Now, with more than 8,000 copies sold, staff are hoping a second print run will arrive on time to signal more sales success.

Osprey spokesman Abraham Davies said: “This is a big deal for us – it is very difficult to break into the Top 50 and this is the first time we have come anywhere near the Top 10. Everyone is ecstatic about it.”

In the TV series, former Cabinet minister turned presenter Mich-ael Portillo uses an original copy of Bradshaw’s Handbook to travel the length and breadth of the British Rail network, to see the impact of the train and how the country has changed since 1863 when the book was first produced.

In this week’s journey, being shown in five parts on BBC2 at 6.30pm until Friday, Mr Portillo is travelling from Oxford to South Wales. On the first leg, broadcast on Monday, he got a rooftop view of the dreaming spires from Merton College’s tower, and called in at the Hook Norton Brewery during a journey along the Cotswold Line through West Oxfordshire.

The Old House version of Bradshaw’s is a facsimile edition of the book, so it is an exact copy of the original.

Mr Davies added: “The book gives a lot of detail of what the traveller would expect to see in local areas, which makes it a very interesting social history.”

The firm is hoping the second print run will arrive before the first run of 10,000 copies sells out.

Managing director Nick Wright said: “Not only is ours the only available version that includes the exact routes and placesreferred to in the TV programme, it is available for less than £10 and customers have recognised that as remarkable value.”

Mr Davies added: “Bradshaw says of Oxford ‘This honourable seat of learning has the advantage over Cambridge in its rural location’.

But the Victorian traveller was not so complimentary about Oxford’s neighbours. Mr Davies said: “The only thing he has to say about Didcot is ‘Telegraph station’, and he describes Appleford as ‘small and uninteresting’.”

Old House was taken over by the Osprey Group last year, which allowed it to add facsimiles of period maps and reprints of long-neglected books to military history and nostalgia publications.

Osprey started in 1970, publishing cards that appeared in packets of Brooke Bond tea. It moved to Oxford in 1998 and has grown steadily with the acquisition of heritage and history specialist Shire Publications and sci-fi and fantasy publisher Angry Robot.

It now employs about 45 staff and also has an office in Nottingham and a US base in New York.