Some Books on Matchbox and other Vintage Toys.

Matchbox Toys

Without doubt the very best book for regular wheel collectors is the long out of print "Stannard Guide" that lists all colour, wheel and casting variations, The good news is that it is now back in print for a limited run of 1500, the sad news is a wonderful opportunity to update the the book with the latest discoveries and to possibly add Christian Falkensteiners work on box types was missed, Maybe the copyright owner will consider this for any later editions, the book can be ordered at www.matchboxtoys.net

Probably the most useful book for any Collector of pre 1970 Matchbox toys is "The Encyclopedia of Matchbox Toys" by Charlie Mack. 2nd Edition 1999. It has hundreds of excellent colour photographs and a full price guide for all of the products made from 1947 to the present. There is a brief history of the Lesney Company and a description of the range at the start of each category. He lists the colour and wheel variations for each model, the years they were produced and gives a value for them. This is a book no serious Matchbox Collector should be without. Highly recommended.

Another "must have" for your collection is "Collecting Matchbox Diecast Toys, The first forty years" by Kevin McGimpsey & Stewart Orr. It's a highly detailed history of the Lesney Company and their products 1947-1987 and also the history of the Moko Company from 1875. There are many colour & black and white photographs of the people the factory and the products they made. There is no price guide but everything Lesney ever made is photographed and described in detail. Certainly one not to be missed but it is getting very hard to find now, Highly Recommended

The late Harold Colpitts book "Matchbox 1-75 series Regular Wheel 1953-69" published by the American International Matchbox (collectors club) is a good reference guide for casting variations that are missed by other reference guides, the booklet was last updated in 1983, It can be ordered from Harolds family at HAROLDSAIM@aol.com

Another very interesting book is "Matchbox Toys" by Bruce and Diane Stoneback. It has a well written history of the Company and has a chapter on Jack Odell's Lledo Company and the "Days Gone" and "Promotional" toys that they made. The photo's are of very good quality showing many of the lesser known products. There is no price guide but the book describes all the rare models in detail. Currently out of print, even so it's a good book to have in any collection .

3 books you may want to consider are Charlie Macks "Matchbox: the regular wheel years" for pre 1970 toys, Charlie Macks "Matchbox toys; 1969-82" for the British made toys of the Superfast era and Charlie Macks "Universal's Matchbox Toys" for the toys made in the far east by the Universal Company from 1982. Although a little dated they are good reference guides.

I tried to obtain "The Concise Catalogue of 1-75 series Matchbox toys by Lesney" by Geoffery Leake but have been unable to track down a copy.

One book that is highly prized by many collectors is "Mike and the Modelmakers" by M.Sasek. It was published by Lesney in 1970 not for Collectors but as a Childrens story book. The drawings are accurate representations of the factory and their products. Well worth looking out for.

For probably the best reference book and price guide that covers almost all makes of British die cast toys try the book "British die cast toys" by John Ramsay". November 2001 saw publication of the updated 9th edition, The book is considered the to be the book to have by British Collectors and Dealers alike. It lists all the big named Manufacturers as well as the smaller ones like "Morestone", "Charbens", "Benbros" and "Budgie" also the modern collectibles like "Corgi Classics", "EFE" and "Lledo". The book contains lots of very useful information and compared to most of the other books on this page it is very easy to find a copy, Sadly it has very few photographs which could be very useful in helping to identify old toys, especially to the novice collector it is still, nevertheless a book not to be missed.

Other Makes

Andrew Ralston has a very interesting booklet on Lone Star toys, it has a history of the company and an overview of their products including cap guns and cowboy outfits, die cast cars and trains among others, a good read and all for only £4.50 ($9.99) a copy including p&p, You can order your copy direct from Andrew at ralstona55@yahoo.co.uk

For those interested in Corgi toys you may want to try the book "Corgi toys" by Edward Force.

For "Budgie" toys Robert Newsons book "Budgie models, including Morris & Stone, Morestone and Modern products" is the one to have, it has a section on the "Esso pump" series, at the moment I am unable to find a supplier. the ISBN number is 0 948793 02 3

Robet Newson has reprinted his booklet Benbros T.V.Series & Mighty Midgets, It covers the "T.V." series, later known as the "Mighty Midgets". You can obtain a copy direct from Robert at robert.newson@btinternet.com