Osprey Publishing

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Men at Arms

"Packed with specially commissioned artwork, maps and diagrams, the Men-at-Arms series of books is an unrivalled illustrated reference on the history, organisation, uniforms and equipment of the world's military forces, past and present."

There are several magazine about the American Civil War Uniform ...

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"The common image of the Confederate Army during the Civil War is dominated by a limited number of early photographs of troops wearing the gray and butternut of the CS regulations and quartermaster issues. By contrast, this book examines the variety of uniforms worn by the Virginia and Arkansas militia and volunteers brought together in the Confederate field armies, and the continuing efforts to clothe them as wear-and-tear gradually reduced this wide range of uniforms. A mass of information from contemporary documents is illustrated with rare early photographs and meticulous color reconstructions."

The price is very low but the guy who illustrated even won a price !
 
I probably have 60 Osprey books covering the French and Indian War through WW2. There isn't a lot of in depth coverage of the subject , but they are very good at a general overview . The Civil War series is generally very good and you can find information and illustrations of many early state troops . The illustrations in the very early books (1970s) are not so good .
 
I find the Osprey publications to be a very good introduction and primer to a particular military subject, battle, etc. David.
 
I am guessing I have about 300 of the Men-At-Arms books. I have 22 Osprey Men-At-Arms books covering the Civil War. Some of the earlier ones are a bit weak, but in general they improved over the years and the newer ones are not bad.

One of the real problems is that Osprey wants to keep the books short so end notes are not used. This leaves the reader trusting the author and artist. This does not mean the author and artist do not have extensive notes on the subject, but the reader can not know what sources the author used.

I have worked with Ron Field, the author on the book shown in post #1, so can give some insight. I sent him many newspaper articles, parts of letters, and journals, covering the uniforms of the 1st Michigan Three Month Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He includes that regiment in one of his Osprey books to include having the artist Illustrate it. The problem being Mr. Field lives in England and he counted on me to find all the information.

So what if I missed a letter home with a better discription of the uniforms than found in the newspapers, letters, and journals I studied? So for the uniform of the 1st Michigan, I know Mr. Field used a fair amount of information and a few photographs. I know what sources he had available, but a causal read of his book would not know due to the lack of end notes.
 
Osprey books are very useful to miniature painters and wargamers. They are a great starting point for research, but are sometimes hit and miss in their quality. Some of their authors write well; others are dry as dust. The "Essential History of the Spanish Civil War" is quite good. "Tarawa: The Turning of the Tide" is downright excellent. Some older titles have eyepopping errors, like a mountain man called a couer de bois in one of the French and Indian titles. I have dozens of them, though, and read a couple of them just last week. My pet peeve is that I think they're overpriced for what they are. I balk at paying $15 for a book that is going to take me less than 2 hours to read, and is simply a stepping stone to better resources. I don't trust them as a resource for reenacting; they're just too general.
 
Osprey books are very useful to miniature painters and wargamers. They are a great starting point for research, but are sometimes hit and miss in their quality. Some of their authors write well; others are dry as dust. The "Essential History of the Spanish Civil War" is quite good. "Tarawa: The Turning of the Tide" is downright excellent. Some older titles have eyepopping errors, like a mountain man called a couer de bois in one of the French and Indian titles. I have dozens of them, though, and read a couple of them just last week. My pet peeve is that I think they're overpriced for what they are. I balk at paying $15 for a book that is going to take me less than 2 hours to read, and is simply a stepping stone to better resources. I don't trust them as a resource for reenacting; they're just too general.
I do paint miniatures and they can be very useful for that . One of the first ones I bought was the French and Indian war issue with the "mountain man." That was back in the 1970s and I still have it . It always pays to have multiple sources. They are becoming pricey for what you get , especially since you can research uniforms on the internet .
 
LOL - you can find their very first volumes, "The Iron Brigade" and "The Stonewall Brigade" online. Although these particular volumes are no longer in print, and so don't represent the current quality of research, they are hilariously bad. In the mid to late 80s they retooled their entire Civil War catalogue, reissued a number of titles and released several more. Those are much, much better but again, I find the uneven quality frustrating. Unless you get to see the title first, you don't really know if it's going to be useful, and as you said, with Wikipedia and Google, you can do almost as well sometimes.
 
I've been buying them since they first appeared - the earliest ones aren't even numbered because there were so few titles at first! As noted above, the subjects were the same old same old: Rommel's Army in Africa; Napoleon's Imperial Guard Grenadiers; Army of the Potomac; Army of Northern Virginia, most using the same mediocre illustrator and indifferent subjects for photo illustration coupled with descriptions vague and general enough to be almost worthless. Of course as time went on this indifference allowed them to go into ever greater - and more expensive! - titles expanding on the originals. As noted, they were probably best as figure-painting guides for wargamers.
 
I started obtaining a few Osprey years ago for Napoleonic Wars---but only a few. I also have a few of thicker volumes on WW1 Aircraft, such as Balloon Bursting Aces of WW1. Most of mine Osprey are WW2 that are related to Italy: Italian Army(3 volumes), Canadian Army, Italian Partisans, Luftwaffe Field Divisions, Herman Goering Division, etc.
I've never bought any American Civil War books except one which is a must. American Civil War Fortifications (#3): The Mississippi and River Forts.

BTW, when you buy some 54mm painted figures produced by the company del Prado, it will include a small 16-page booklet on that regiment or unit. Some include: 20th Light Dragoons, 10th Hussars, 1st French Hussars, French mounted Imperial Guard. I also bought a 1/6 scale WW2 soldier(think of "GI Joe" action figure) that also came with a small booklet. I think the name of the company was Dragon; not sure. This figure was a Army Radio Operator of the 29th Infantry Division that was equipped with an M-1 Carbine and an SCR-300 Radio.

Osprey booklet that came with Del Prado figure.
Booklet has Osprey logo in lower RH corner but I cropped it off.
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12-inch figure.
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The Osprey books (on all subjects, not just uniforms) vary widely in their quality and reliability. It all really depends on the author/illustrator team.
 
Uh, glad I asked here before buying anything. In fact more than the books about the general History I would focus more on the uniforms and if their quality is really that unreliable I shall find another source.

Or I shall ask here everytime I see a nice book that interested me (guess I should leave the ones about the ACW unfortunately)
 
I do think the Ron Filed book in post #1 is well worth having if you are interested in early war Virginia or Arkansas uniforms. In fact it is one of the few books on the subject. The book is less useful if you are interested in middle or late war uniforms.
 
The Osprey books (on all subjects, not just uniforms) vary widely in their quality and reliability. It all really depends on the author/illustrator team.

So True. I haven't bought many of the Campaigns. I bought the Petersburg Campaign as a gift to my Brother and I have the Atlanta Campaign.

I also forgot to mention another connection between Osprey Books and 54mm Figures. Back in the 1980's or so, one company began making 54mm lead figures that matched the sketches found in Osprey's Books on the Napoleonic War uniforms. The two companies were not working together, as I think the figures were created a year or more after the book came out. It was just a good way to get advertisement for his figures and he didn't need to print a paint scheme. I have a French Dragoon which I have never painted.

I wonder if any company created figures to match the Civil War books?
 
They also partnered with Warlord games to produce the Bolt Action WW2 rules. Many of the illustrations in the rule books are Osprey properties. A very good quick set of rules, BTW.
 
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