Nancy Kirkham outside the long established shop in the Archway Road, North London. The business of one of the UK’s leading military bookselling and mail order specialists, W. E. Hersant Limited, has been passed on to new ownership. William Ernest Henry Hersant founded the business in 1922, as a retail bookshop in the Archway Road, Highgate, north London. Titled “The Cholmeley Bookshop” after Sir Roger Cholmeley, a local prominent figure, the shop sold a wide range of books. Specialisation came in 1953 when Hersants became increasingly well known as a supplier of aviation books. It was in 1965 that the military side began to be established and naval titles were also prominent on the shelves. In 1962 Mr. Hersant’s daughter, Mrs. Betty de Looy, returned to the business after a break, and her daughter Nancy Kirkham joined the business full time in 1975. These two ladies - assisted on occasion by Nancy’s husband Stan and daughter Zoe - have been familiar figures over the years at the many wargame shows up and down the country. No-one who has not been involved in such realizes the effort required to organize, supply and man (rather, person) book stalls at the numerous events which dot the hobby calendar. By the early 1980s it was appreciable that the passing trade at the shop had lessened. Shopping trends also changed as people decreasingly ‘popped in’ but instead used Hersants’ mail order service. So the inevitable decision was made to sell the retail premises and move the business into a smaller property. This took place in 1994 and W. E. Hersant have run an efficient mail order-only business from Barnet for the last seven years, whilst continuing to attend numerous wargame shows, as they have been doing since 1968. Three generations selling books at a militaria fair. Mrs. Betty de Looy (left), Zoe Kirkham and Nancy Kirkham. Hersant built up over the years an excellent reputation as an efficient supplier of military titles. Now after nearly 80 years in bookselling however the business has passed on out of family hands. Steve Mankelow has taken over the Hersant business, retitled Hersants Military Books. He has a publishing background, and a longstanding personal interest in military subjects. This is his first venture on the retail side of things, and Steve Mankelow says that he looks forward to maintaining the Hersant high standards (and even passing the business on through another three generations). The new address is: Hersants Military Books, 18 Herne Gardens, Rustington, West Sussex BN16 3EF (Tel/Fax: 01903 770123) Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 107 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com