Hobnob Press

19/05/2025

We could not be prouder to publish this fantastic book on behalf of our friends at Hampshire VCH! A huge congratulations to them for this great piece of local history.

Basingstoke is frequently seen as a modern town, the product of the last decades of the 20th century. In reality it has a long, rich and prosperous history dating from the medieval period. This study covers the period when Basingstoke was transformed from a market town serving north-east Hampshire

19/05/2025

It is & Local History is what we do. So, here is another one of our fabulous titles.😊Chris is a great advocate for Chippenham and a fantastic local historian.

Chippenham on this Day contains 366 days of events from the history of Chippenham in north Wiltshire. As you work through the calendar you will discover a wide range of subjects: tragedies, celebrations, crimes, freak weather, royal visits, protests and much more. Some of these events are well known

19/05/2025

We are thrilled to see our new title on Swindon being featured by Angela Atkinson, the Born Again Swindonian!
https://swindonian.me/2025/05/15/made-in-swindon/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKX6UtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETAzUkRPaDNhc0pUZWlud2M4AR45-VlcsHpjKZen3EHZ8lttrWVyerKkyjJYp7CJH3txQ9oJpXE11DDqc70Fyw_aem_M0stvIlyfUV0vxgINrqV7Q

13/05/2025

It is & Local History is what we do. So, here is one of our fabulous titles.😊The mysterious Wansdyke is one of the great linear, bank-and-ditch earthworks of England. This book explores its secrets. Recommended!

Wansdyke is one of the great linear, bank-and-ditch earthworks of England. From end to end it stretches 35 miles across Somerset and Wiltshire. Only the Devil’s D**e, near Newmarket, is higher. Archaeologists Sir Cyril and Lady Aileen Fox described it as ‘a formidable barrier’. Yet it is not n...

12/05/2025

We are delighted to publish👇The Costs of Pleasure explores the dual meaning of 'costs' through the lens of Jacob and Priscilla Franks' visits to Bath 1777-1808, examining both their expenses for leisure activities & the colonial exploitation that funded it.

The costs of the pleasures of visiting Bath in the Georgian period were not only the price of tickets to the balls, of tips for the Sedan chairmen and many other expenses, but also the external costs to the, often colonial, people and places, from where the wealth that paid the bills came from. The

12/05/2025

It is & we thought we should promote some of our newest titles. This is a fabulous book on . It focuses not on trains 🚆but rather at the people who made them 😲

A small market town in rural Wiltshire became a leading centre for manufacturing in the century after 1840. This is Swindon, a creation of the Great Western Railway which built its trains there. Behind Swindon's international reputation in engineering, there was the making of a company town. This be

14/04/2025

We are thrilled to publish this! The first biography of the naturalist John Leonard Knapp (1767-1845) and the previously unpublished 5th edition of his nature journal which is largely based on observations around his home in Gloucestershire. Knapp may not be well known now, but he was the first to follow Gilbert White’s format and Knapp’s journal was a bestseller when it was first published.

Revd. Gilbert White published his revolutionary Natural History of Selborne in 1789, an entirely new insight into the natural world. John Knapp was the first to follow White's successful format, publishing his Journal of a Naturalist anonymously in 1829. Knapp's work was an instant success and ran i

14/04/2025

We have been swamped at Hobnob but consequently have some amazing titles coming out including this fabulous history of which focuses not on the but on to the people who made them.

A small market town in rural Wiltshire became a leading centre for manufacturing in the century after 1840. This is Swindon, a creation of the Great Western Railway which built its trains there. Behind Swindon's international reputation in engineering, there was the making of a company town. This be

09/04/2025

Interested in Jane Austen? Check out the exhibition at Seacity Museum, Southampton. It ties perfectly with our new release on Austen's Southampton Circle by Cheryl Butler. Available from the museum soon or from our website!
https://www.hobnobpress.co.uk/books/p/first-impressions-jane-austens-southampton-circle-17801820-by-cheryl-butler
https://seacitymuseum.co.uk/whats-on/jane-austen-exhibition/

Step back in time to learn more about Jane Austen, who is considered a pioneer in fiction, breaking new ground in subject and style.

31/03/2025

Discover 17th century travel through the eyes of John Walker in our new release. Edited by Anthea Jones.

Travelling for pleasure in the 1670s required plenty of stamina. John Walker, a well-to-do country gentleman in his early thirties, rode many miles on horseback through England, Wales and Scotland, and not always on good horses, as he commented. Twice he journeyed through France, and he went also to

13/03/2025

We are thrilled to have just published this fabulous book on & her Southampton connections and just in time for all Jane's 250th Birthday celebrations.

Jane Austen’s writings often reflect on the influence of mothers, of parental failings and the dynamics of family relationships. This book reflects the potential influence of her Southampton networks and the women who were plantation owners, wealthy East India Company wives, and mothers of errant ...

13/03/2025

The church of the Holy Trinity in the small Cotswold town of Minchinhampton traces its origins back to Domesday. The medieval church was largely demolished and rebuilt in the 1840s but the church’s south transept remains amongst the finest examples of Decorated architecture in the region. A recent...