Apologies for the lack of updates on this title of late. The same issues which seriously affected a few of our other projects has been to blame (upgrading hardware, then system software and finally design software caused the artwork files to lose all their links) but we are now getting on top of the relinking process (which has to be done manually, the auto functions are not, um, functioning properly!). We’ve got another page of previews done too, click on the link to view the gallery. If new to you, then to read more about this feast for fans of Fifties pulp artwork check out The Art Of Mexican Lobby Cards. You can also subscribe there for a newsletter which we will launch shortly.

There has been a decent obituary in The Guardian newspaper which can be read online, the link is below:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jan/04/brian-smith-obituary

Written by Tony Burke, editor of Blues & Rhythm magazine (apologies for mixing this up in our post), it includes a nice photo of Brian which I had not seen before. Funeral details are in the post following.

Frustratingly we must warn that two of our titles are close to selling out. The second edition of our best selling Deep Purple biography Wait For The Ricochet has just been hit with a “low stock” notice by our distributors, while The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve has now almost sold out the initial print run. We have just a handful of copies left in our online shop. We will attempt to republish both in the new year but cannot say when this might be.

We had to suspend shipping to the USA in August when they slapped an $80 tariff duty on ALL small parcels, which clearly we could not impose on our customers.  It then changed to a blanket 10% tariff on parcels from the UK, plus a per parcel customs handling charge.  It now seems somebody pointed out that books are protected in U.S. law (though for how long…) and will be exempted from tariffs though the customs handling charge remains, albeit payable in the UK.  We are reading up on the rules on the Royal Mail site, and if we think we understand it all, we will reinstate a USA delivery option next week. And then go for a lie down.

The stupidity of Donald Trump knows no bounds but, because of it, today, like thousand’s of other small traders around the world, we have had to take the sad decision to stop all sales to the USA due to his imposition of an $80 surcharge on regular parcels from outside the country. Most European postal services have in any case already suspended shipping to the USA. We apologise for the people who placed orders this week, and have refunded them in full.