BRITAINS TOY SOLDIERS The History and Handbook 1893-2013

(Pen & Sword £35) ISBN 9781-8488-44445

The author is the world’s leading expert on toy soldiers and his latest monster volume is a treasure, taking us back to a time when hordes of children enthusiastically played with tin, wooden and plastic soldiers. Some were common, some were rare but each had a mystique which tugged at the heart-strings of juvenile curiosity. Read all about the main manufacturer called, appropriately, Britains, and see if you can find your old models among the pages. (480pp, hardback)