An E.R.A. Album, 1973-2010
By Alan Cox
Publishing and working with publishers can be a brutal experience. As electronic media takes over from the printed word, bringing a general downturn in the industry, great care must be taken to determine what is commercially viable. Now, however, there exist modern alternatives to the established publishing methods. Although expensive, these include websites and businesses available for short-run publications where prospective authors can see their work bound into a worthy volume. Of course, self-publication offers no support for publicity and commercial drive, and there can be a lack of an ISBN number (although some online publishers offer this).
This book is typical of “self publication.” An accomplished photographer, Cox has taken in excess of 1200 photos of E.R.A.s over a period of 40 years, which he has whittled down to around 350 examples in this 74-page picture-book appreciation of the marque. In essence, it can be seen as a photographic supplement to David Weguelin’s mighty authoritative tome, E.R.A.: History of English Racing Automobiles Ltd., 1934-’78. However, to the chagrin of many E.R.A. aficionados, Cox never aimed to produce anything on the scale of Weguelin to bring the story up to date. If there is a criticism, other than the cover price, it is the lack of reasonably informative captions. Those given are rather sparse and limited to just a few words—i.e., “R6B—Silverstone 1992,” but it is good to know these photographs exist, and they make this book a must-have for all E.R.A. owners and fanatics.
Available only from Alan Cox +44 (0) 1606 786918, [email protected] £42.50 (US$67.30) per copy + P&P
