Useful Occupations for Practical Chaps

Just a small selection of the archive we at Ammonite Press are using to create facsimile books of a nostalgic nature: Hobbies Annual and Hobbies Small Wood Projects.

Between 1895 and 1968 Hobbies Weekly brought much-needed practical advice and inspiration to bespectacled boys in V-neck pullovers, young ladies in sensible shoes and their parents throughout the Empire.

The story of Hobbies is fascinating, not only for the bizarre advertisements, outlandish projects, and obsession with fretwork but also because of the wonderful typography and ornamentation the pages of the magazine contain.

Under new management since 1978, the company still thrives: http://www.alwayshobbies.com/