Pen and Sword Books facts for kids
Pen and Sword Books logo
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| Parent company | Barnsley Chronicle |
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| Status | Active |
| Predecessor | Leo Cooper |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England |
| Distribution | Self-distributed (UK) Casemate Publishers (US) Peribo (Australia) |
| Publication types | Books, magazines |
| Nonfiction topics | Military history, naval and maritime history, aviation, local history, family history, collectables and antiques, nostalgia and true crime |
| Imprints | Air World, Frontline Books, Green Bean Books, Seaforth Publishing, White Owl |
Pen and Sword Books, sometimes called Pen & Sword, is a British company that publishes books. They specialize in books about military history, old military items (called militaria), and other special topics. Most of their books focus on the United Kingdom.
Pen and Sword has over 6,000 different books you can buy. They are available as printed books or as ebook downloads. Each year, they release about 500 new books on many different subjects. This publishing company is part of the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper group.
Contents
History of Pen and Sword Books
The first books from Pen and Sword were created because people wanted them. This happened after some articles were published in the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper.
One series of articles was called Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks. It told stories about plane crash sites in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park. Another weekly story was about the history of two special battalions from Kitchener's Army, known as the Barnsley Pals. People were very interested in these stories. Because of this, these books have been printed many times over the years.
After the success of the Dark Peak and Barnsley Pals books, the company started making more local history paperbacks. They also created a series of battlefield guide books. The Battleground Europe series became very popular. As more books were made, the company decided to start a special part of their group just for publishing books.
In 1990, the Barnsley Chronicle bought a publishing company called Leo Cooper. This is how Pen and Sword publishing began. Leo Cooper (who lived from 1934 to 2013) was known for publishing books about military history. He later retired from the business.
Pen and Sword then started publishing books on even more topics. They began to cover naval and maritime history (stories about ships and the sea). They also added books about aviation (planes), local history, family history, collectables, antiques, nostalgia (looking back at the past), and true crime. The company grew even more to include books about transport and railways, science, archaeology (studying old things), exploration, and political memoirs (stories from politicians).
In 2008, Pen and Sword bought two other companies. One was Frontline Books, which focuses on military history from the United States. The other was Seaforth Publishing, a top publisher for maritime history books.
Explore Their Book Series
Pen and Sword publishes many different series of books. Here are some of their popular ones:
Aviation Heritage Trail
This series tells the stories, history, and events behind famous aviation operations. You can learn about important moments in flight history.
Battleground Europe
This series has over 100 illustrated battleground guide books. They cover battles from many different time periods, like the 1066, the Wars of the Roses, the English Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Zulu War, the Boer War, World War I, and World War II.
Classics
These books cover many different military operations and stories from throughout history. They are often well-known or important historical accounts.
Cold War 1945–1991
This series has 19 books (as of December 2020). They describe individual battles around the world during the period from 1945 to 1991, which was known as the Cold War.
FlightCraft
There are 18 books in this series (as of December 2020). They focus on important military aircraft from the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and Russia. These books mainly cover planes from the early part of the Cold War.
History of Terror
This series of 15 books (as of December 2020) looks at important historical events involving conflict and unrest over the last two thousand years.
Holt's Guidebooks
These books provide general information with maps, details about memorials, battleground descriptions, and tourist summaries. They cover various military campaigns from World War I and World War II.
Napoleonic Library
This series has 27 books (as of December 2020). They are all about the people, equipment, and battles from the Napoleonic Wars.
Pals
These books tell the stories of friends and comrades who joined the same Battalions to serve their country during the Great War.
ShipCraft
This series has 30 books (as of December 2020). They describe military ships like battleships, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and aircraft carriers. They also cover famous passenger liners such as the Titanic and her sister ships.
TankCraft
There are 28 books in this series (as of December 2020). They give detailed information about tracked military vehicles, commonly known as tanks, from Britain, Germany, and America.
This series tells the stories behind famous Royal Navy (RN) ships. It covers their history from the Napoleonic Wars to more recent military conflicts.
==Images for kids
This is a large series with 243 books (as of December 2020). It features rare photographs from wartime archives. These books cover almost every military subject you can imagine, from animals and aircraft to famous people like Winston Churchill. They include detailed captions and references.
- Shot in the Tower: the story of the spies executed in the Tower of London during the First World War.
