The History Press: 2510 books

The Little Book of Oxfordshire is a funny, fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information which no one will want to be without. Here we find out about the most unusual crimes and punishments, eccentric inhabitants, famous sons and daughters and...

The Little Book of Wales is an intriguing, fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of places, people and history in Wales. Here we find out about the country’s most unusual crimes and punishments, eccentric inhabitants, famous sons and daughters and literally hundreds of wacky facts (plus some authentically...

The rugged beauty of the Cape’s landscape has been captured in writing since the days of Henry David Thoreau. Yet few mention the area’s architecture, aside from references to the “Cape Cod houses,” the basic cottages that the earliest settlers built. From Provincetown at the northern tip to...

The West End of London has long been popular with theater-goers and tourists to the capital, but this historic area is also home to a multitude of terrifying ghosts. From the theater where a female spectre cradles a severed head in her lap and the haunted house where two people have died of fright,...

County Carlow has a rich heritage of myths and legends which is uniquely captured in this collection of traditional tales from across the county. Here you will find the lore of the Balckstairs Mountains, tales of how the rivers got their names, and the ancient history of Dinn Righ, the seat of the...

A presumptuous bear who surprised a group of ladies in a coach, an accident involving an actor pretending to be an orangutan, and an aristocrat mistakenly pronounced dead in a newspaper are just some of the masterpieces of understated journalism collected by Francis Cox and contained in his Fragmenta....

These lively and entertaining folk tales from one of Britain's most ancient counties are vividly retold by local storyteller Kirsty Hartsiotis. Their origins lost in the oral tradition, these thirty stories from Wiltshire reflect the wisdom of the county an its people. From the Giant's Dance to the...

With a plot to grace any comic opera, the 1859–1872 "Pig War" broke out when an American living on a quietly disputed small island in the Gulf of Georgia (present-day San Juan Island in Washington State) shot a British pig he found rooting up his garden produce. The authorities on nearby...

Patrick Moore is Britain's most respected and best-loved astronomer. In Countdown! he examines the multifarious theories of how and when the world will end, from St Augustine to the Millennium Bug, via Nostradamus. With a healthy dose of irreverent humour, he investigates and dismisses the weird and...

Infamous Cheshire explores the darker side of this idyllic county, where murders in sleepy villages, royal scandals ancient and modern and the antics of showbiz personalities reveal that all is not as tranquil as it may seem. In his new book Bob Burrows digs deep into forgotten tales of villainy and...

The murder cases in this book are a mixture of classic narratives of jealousy, elimination and passion, now retold from new perspectives and with more research. The author also includes some little-known mysteries: three unsolved homicides from across the county, including the killing of the 'Barton...

Covering the lives and achievements of five English intelligence officers involved in wars at home and abroad between 1870 and 1918, this exceptionally researched book offers an insight into spying in the age of Victoria. Including material from little-known sources such as memoirs, old biographies,...

Square Mile Bobbies is a history and casebook of the City of London Police between 1839, when the force was first established after general recognition that London was not being policed effectively, and World War II. During this time the City Police were involved in a succession of major cases, from...

Kent boasts a plethora of characterising traditions which include hop-growing, smuggling and saints. All this reflects the curious history and geography of the area. It is bounded by sea on three sides, has the longest coastline of any English county and was the base for much maritime activity. This...