Some time ago, a prospective author, talking to one of the Michael Sedgwick Trustees made the remark that the Trust only supported books about early motoring and that subjects that were not Veteran or Edwardian were less likely to be supported.
The initial reaction of the Trustees was that they represented a wide range of interests and that such a bias was unlikely. The other response was that the books the Trust supported reflected those that were brought to the Trust and this was influenced by what was being written about. There is a further qualification in that books of certain subjects and periods are attractive commercial propositions and do not need the support of the Trust. This latter would suggest that the post war classics that were familiar to those who can afford the time and money to indulge in their motoring hobby when they were young, would be less often the subject of the niche books the Trust supports.
There are other factors that will affect the concentration of books by era. For instance, the most recent decades are not considered "history" by some (not the Trust I hasten to add!), and are not written about to the same degree. The World Wars also have a big influence on histories, with gaps where motor sport was concerned whereas engineers and manufacturers carried on, merely diverting their energies to war production.
Statistics have been compiled on the 86 books so far supported by the Trust, breaking each book down by the decades covered and weighting for periods covered in less detail. These make interesting reading, showing that a wide range of periods have benefited from the Trust's participation. The most supported decades adjusted for the factors mentioned above at 17 % are the 1920s and 1930s, followed by the 1950s at 15%. The 1900s are the next most published at 13%, followed by the pre 1900 period and the 1910s at 9% each with the 1940s and 1960s at 7.5% each. That then accounts for 95% of the total, the remaining 5% spread over the 1970s up to the 2010s.
The message from the Trust is that all periods and subjects are welcome, and that each prospective book is considered on its merits. Hopefully over the coming years, we will be able to support more books from the periods that are particularly under-represented, the 1970s and subsequent decades. Our photographs, from the 2021 Kop Hill Climb, cover the 1960s and more recent decades.
