Conway Publishing
In 2005 Anova Books bought Conway Maritime Press. Around this time the publisher was renamed Conway Publishing. Whilst still committed to producing specialist maritime books, Conway broadened their catalogue to incorporate general, military and aviation history, exploration, as well as railway and scale modelling (with Hornby and Airfix), amongst other related topics. [3]
Pavilion Books Holdings Ltd is an English publishing company based in London.
Hornby Railways is a British model railway brand. Its roots date back to 1901, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, Hornby launched its first 00 gauge train. In 1964, Hornby and Meccano were bought by their competitor, Tri-Ang, and sold on when Tri-ang went into receivership. Hornby Railways became independent in the 1980s, and became listed on the London Stock Exchange, but due to recent financial troubles, reported in June 2017, is presently majority owned by turnaround specialist Phoenix Asset Management.
Airfix is a UK manufacturer of injection-moulded plastic scale model kits of aircraft and other objects. In the United Kingdom the name Airfix is synonymous with plastic models of this type, often simply referred to as "an airfix kit" even if made by another manufacturer.
In recent years, Conway has found success with several television series tie-ins. 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 released a series of popular nostalgic reproduction wartime pocket-books ranging from officers' manuals, the Spitfire, to the Home Guard.
Conway has also 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, broadcast on BBC2 later in the year. [4]
James May's Toy Stories is a television series presented by James May. The series was commissioned for BBC Two from Plum Pictures. The first episode, "Airfix", was broadcast on BBC Two at 8:00 pm on Tuesday 27 October 2009. In later years, three specials were made for the Christmas seasons, along with a follow-up to the sixth episode.
Daniel Robert Snow is a British television presenter, who presents history programmes for the BBC and other broadcasters, has a history slot on The One Show and hosts the podcast Dan Snow's History Hit. Snow is a convenor of the cross-party political movement, More United.
Bruce Parry is an English documentarian, indigenous rights advocate, author, explorer, trek leader and former Royal Marines commando officer. He employs an ethnographic style and a form of participant observation for his documentaries.
In September 2014 Bloomsbury Publishing bought Conway from Anova to join its existing Adlard Coles Nautical imprint. [5]
Adlard Coles Nautical is a nautical publisher, with over 300 books in print. The company publishes books on topics of interest to sailors and motorboaters and also ‘landlubbers’ with an interest in the sea. Their list includes almanacs, cruising guides, pilot books and how-to instruction books, as well as large format photographic books, sailing narratives and sea-related reference, maritime history, humour and trivia books.
