Two new books published on history of Melton Mowbray

Peter Smith has updated ‘Melton Mowbray – An Illustrated History’ and he has co-written ‘Melton Mowbray 200 Years of History’ with David Matthews.

Peter first wrote the illustrated history book back in 2015 but he has published a new edition covering the history of the town from Neolithic times to the present day. It is illustrated using his collection of postcards and photographs, as well as his paintings of Melton.

The other title is a companion volume and mainly pictorial.

Peter explained: “This book came about when I began chatting to David Matthews in the art gallery in the Bell Centre in May when David mentioned that he'd got a large collection of old postcards of the town. These form the bulk of the pictures - the oldest photo dates back to 1859.”

Peter self-publishes the books so they are printed to order and there are not large stocks waiting to be sold.

Melton’s Foxy Lots store, on King Street, are the sole sellers of the book in the town but they can also be bought online via Amazon.

Copies have also been given to Melton Carnegie Museum and the town library.

The authors are donating £6 from every book sold to the local air ambulance and are not taking any money from sales themselves.

Peter and David are passionate about local history and making future generations aware of how people lived in Melton through the ages.

“As for motivation for writing the books, we are doing it simply because we enjoy it and we strongly believe that information should be shared and made public – we hate the 'dog in the manger' attitude that some people have regarding their photos, and so on,” said Peter.

“We keep being amazed at the number of previously unseen photos that keep surfacing.”

The pair are already embarking on their next book. Peter added: “We are now writing a book on the history of Melton Mowbray Town Estate and so much new information is surfacing that there will certainly have to be a follow up volume to our blue book at some point.”