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| Hortons Books was founded relatively recently, in 1997 (before that the Hortons worked with Connoisseur Carbooks in London for two and-a-half years), but Mike has been collecting motoring books since he was a small child in the late 1940s. ‘Our family farm used Shell products, so one of my earliest acquisitions was a Shell Achievements book in 1947,’ remembers Mike with a smile. |
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| Mike started collecting in earnest as a schoolchild during the 1950s (‘Instead of buying WE Johns’ Biggles books, I was reading Jenks in MotorSport) and in time he passed on his interest to son Ben. The family’s former farmhouse now has three rooms full of books and period magazines, around 5000 items in all. ‘Now we concentrate on signed or limited editions, but it’s impossible to collect everything,’ Ben points out. ‘You have to specialize.’ |
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| So what’s hot in the world of motoring books? |
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‘Ferrari is always a solid seller,’ confirms Ben. ‘Otherwise trends change from year to year. A while ago, anything on Maserati was very sought after. This year it’s Aston Martin – we sold out of Aston-related books at Pebble Beach this year, where of course it was the featured
marque. Geographical location also plays a part: Lotus is strangely popular in Germany, for example. |
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| ‘Books on early sports car and Grand Prix racing are eagerly collected, but a good subject for less affluent collectors is Formula One from the 1970s onwards. These books had big print runs and were sold relatively cheaply, so they’re still inexpensive today.’ |
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