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Pocket Series
Observers Books were first published in 1937 and they’ve been a great collection subject ever since. The first one in the series was British Birds quickly followed by British Wild Flowers.
These quickly became very popular and many more titles were added to the seires (although production was limited during the war years due to a shortage of not just paper to print them on but people to work in the factory).
Although the first few titles were nature orientated, they gradually introduced other subject such as Music, Pets, Transport etc.
The early issues had paper Dust Jackets which are now becoming very scarce in perfect condition.
(Beware of people selling what looks like perfect Dust Jackets -
At the start of the 1970’s the series were updated and all the titles were issued with a uniform style of Dust Jacket which was laminated making them much more durable and less prone to wear and tear.
At the same time a much greater range of subjects was introduced including some which were rather “specialised” such as Jazz which usually found little interest except to enthusiasts to boost their collection.
At the end of the 1970’s yet another makeover was introduced. The Dust Jackets were
discarded and the book bindings were illustrated and laminated directly. Although
many of the old titles received this makeover, some of the old titles disappeared,
never to be re-
Some of the titles introduced in the early 1980’s had limited runs as the popularity of collecting declined around then and they’ve become rarities. Titles such as Paris, World Atlas and Silver are amongst this group.
The series covered 100 titles although you will never be able to collect all 100. That’s because number 86 Country Houses was comissioned but not actually published.
History of Observers Books