Welcome to Shire Books

Shire offers affordable, non-fiction paperbacks on a wide range of subjects, reflecting the interests of ordinary people everywhere, however unusual or obscure their passions might be. Covering hobbies from coins, buttons and old toys and medals through motoring and rural history to archaeology.

Future Releases

The British Soldier of the First World War

Peter Doyle

Price: £5.99

Available April 2008

The familiar pictures of the First World War show soldiers in their trenches: hellish images of mud. But there is another dimension not depicted by these frightening representations of battle: the mundane everyday routine of the majority of the soldier's life that was spent away from the Front. This book explores the life of the average British ‘Tommy' of the Great War, in battle and at rest, in training, and on his return home. Illustrated with evocative images of the war, and items of the soldier's kit, it provides an answer to the question: what was it like to be a soldier in the trenches on the front line?

Free download

45 Years of Shire Publications
To celebrate our 45th anniversary, we are re-issuing the Shire bibliography, fully revised and updated to 2007, a must-have reference for collectors of Shire books. 45 Years of Shire Publications: A bibliography for collectors 1962-2007 Download your free copy now (PDF).