Phil
Napoleonics R Us
May 12, 2009 12:00 AM
As a long-time Osprey fan, one of the most frustrating aspects of having published thousands of books in their 40-year history is the inevitable fact that sometimes, some of them will be out-of-print. In best-case scenarios, this is resolved by finding a second-hand copy; in a worst-case scenario, a volume will have been out of print for so long that it's impossible to find a copy that doesn't cost the GDP of a small banana republic.
Thankfully, Osprey have recognized the calls from fans and readers to bring volume X or book Y back into print: the reprint system has become a lot more involved, with Osprey readers being invited to vote on what 'makes the cut'; and with reprints being carried out more frequently in smaller batches, to allow more books to be kept in print at any one time.
Additionally, there has been a new focus with some of the large General titles, which contain information from previously published series books. While Osprey have been doing volumes of this nature for some time, combining, redesigning and republishing collections of related series books, Armies of the Napoleonic Wars is one of the first that uses long unavailable and out-of-print Men-At-Arms volumes. Some of Osprey's earliest titles covered the eternally-popular Napoleonic period and these are also some of the volumes that are hardest to acquire (and, for the newer ones, the toughest to keep in print!). Armies of the Napoleonic Wars covers the uniforms, training, equipment and battles of the nations involved in the struggle both for and against Bonaparte. Britain, France, Spain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Portugal and a host of such minor players as the Scandinavian states, the various German principalities, and the US are addressed over the course of this volume. While not all of the information and plates from the hundreds of Osprey books covering this topic could be included, a huge amount was – this new volume clocks in at 400+ pages!
While some Osprey books will remain hard-to-get (for now), Armies of the Napoleonic Wars offers a chance to discover information previously found only in these unavailable volumes, and provides a guide to the military of the early 19th century all under one roof (or cover)!
COMMENTS
Why wasn't this title checked by the recent authors? I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent correcting the myriad errors in haythornthwaite's Austrian books. Not one plate in the Infantry MAA is correct and the Cavalry book is notorious for the unit title/colour problems.
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Dear Dave, Historical accuracy is the key aim of our books and we welcome feedback from our readers. If you do think there are errors in any of our books, please email us at editorial@ospreypublishing.com so that we can pass on this feedback to our authors for their comments and verifications. If an error is found to have slipped through into one of our books, we do try to correct it in any future reprints.
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I first took this up with Lee Johnson in 1995 and it partly gave rise to the Austrian Auxiliary Troops MAA and Infantry Warrior.
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