Not a 'tail piece', but I thought that I should explain how this remarkable project came to be published. It certainly has been one of the most thrilling projects in my publishing career. In this particular case, a letter came to us May last year from a gentleman from whom we had not heard before, suggesting that we undertake a project in full colour. Publishers are always somewhat hesitant where full colour is concerned because of the considerable cost, but I arranged to meet him when, coincidentally, I was going to be in Washington DC just a few weeks later. The gentleman was Edward Ryan, and of course the wonderful colour artwork he was talking about was that by the master artist Lucien Rousselot. From what he showed me I was immediately interested, but extremely hesitant. I was immediately interested because there was a precedent for the successful publication of a book of Napoleonic uniforms in full colour. This was the two-volume Napoleonic Uniforms which presented illustrations by Knötel, with captions by John Elting, which had been released by us in 1993 and was very successful. But I was extremely frustrated and hesitant because of the cost implications. Then things moved quickly. The arrangements for my US tour included visiting the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection in Rhode Island just a couple of days after meeting with Edward Ryan when I was in Washington DC. The Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection was the home of the Rousselot plates and their curator, Mr Peter Harrington, was able to show me the complete sequence. I was stunned. They were thrilling. They represented the finest work by a master artist, on a strong subject that was obviously very commercial. But how to undertake the project? We sat in their library and had a discussion, and the model I had had in mind was the books by Guy Dempsey which had been published by Arms & Armour Press. But I wasn't sure how well they had sold, and they were less than £ 20. Obviously the Rousselot plates could not be published at such a price. So although I immediately fell in love with the material, I was at that time – but only for a short while – still very hesitant. What changed the whole approach was that Peter Harrington's colleague, Bob Kenny, took away a selection of the plates to photocopy for me in order to enable me to take them away. He returned with the plates presented on a large A3 paper, and it was as though there was a sudden and blinding flash of light. 'That's it!' I said; the way to do this project is as a large, special format volume. But again, undertaking such a format, in full colour throughout, has very significant cost implications. I flew from Providence to New York, and met with some of the key people with whom we work. These meetings had of course all been set up in advance, and it was something of a coincidence that I was able to go from Washington to Providence and then onto New York (the story might have been rather different, and certainly the time-scale would have been if it had been the other way around). As I showed the colour photocopies to our key associates they met with universal acclaim. Kathleen McDermott at the History Book Club immediately expressed very keen interest in taking a quantity for her members (and they had used a small quantity of Napoleonic Uniforms). So too did Michael Stephenson of Doubleday's Military Book Club. Greg Oviatt of the Barnes & Noble Catalog expressed enthusiasm. And so did Bill Corsa of Specialty Marketing. Bill Corsa had been pivotal in the success of Napoleonic Uniforms, and saw the new project as being comparable. With these four knowledgeable people offering support for the project, I returned to London to show my colleagues the material and undertake the costings. Which were difficult. But again we had in mind the success of Napoleonic Uniforms. <>The Beginning To go back to the beginning, in the early 1990s, Charlie Smith, the publisher of academic reference books at Macmillan, New York, told me that a collection of Knötel plates had been located, all original artwork. I expressed extreme caution. I had never heard of there being unpublished Knötel plates, and told him to take care and to carefully check just what he was being offered. The next time I was in New York he had a locked, steel, fireproof briefcase in his office, and opened it to show me a selection of the plates. They were thrilling, and I immediately offered encouragement and support for the project which became Napoleonic Uniforms. I offered encouragement and support, but not a commitment. The production of the book raised all sorts of problems for Macmillan, and they were not able to share material with us on a normal basis to facilitate co-edition publication. But when the following year I was in New York, Charlie Smith showed me an advanced set. I fell in love with it, but it was priced $250 and this raised a question as to what bookshops would stock it. I committed to 300 sets, nevertheless, and brought a set back to Britain with me. When I showed them to the then Greenhill Sales Manager, David Farnsworth, and said that we would have to sell them at £ 125, I think he thought I was totally out on a limb (if not my mind), and certainly well past anything of which we, or in fact possibly the entire British book trade, had had experience. He could see how wonderful the work was physically, but quite rightly pointed out that no general bookshop would dream of subscribing and stocking two volumes at £ 125. But we proceeded with our announcements, and the response was electrifying. The specialist booksellers, both in Britain and internationally, were extraordinarily enthused, and Napoleonic Uniforms sold extraordinarily well. In total Greenhill sold 1,100 sets, and could have sold more but for its selling out and not being reprinted. Hence we had a precedent that there was a market for colour plates on the Napoleonic Wars, and also we had indications of enthusiasm from some key customers. A special format for the new book was created and discussed with the printers in South East Asia, a dummy was made and displayed at last year's Frankfurt Book Fair and, again, the response from the specialist customers was extremely enthusiastic, and we were able to commit to undertake the project. The result will be seen shortly. I think that this is a major contribution to the subject area, with a quality and valuable text by Edward Ryan, but also, because of the beauty and quality of the artwork, it is going to be a significant commercial success. In format and presentation we are extending the frontiers of Napoleonic publishing; but wait until you see the finished book and you will understand the thrill it is to work on a project such as this. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 92 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 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