Clive,
I fully appreciate that at this price level these type of books are not for everyone, Palawan's book by Setright was phenomenally expensive compared with his first offering Bristol Cars and Engines which I think I paid about £5 for when it came out, it was a must have though because it was by Setright and about my favorite car and it was the first expensive book of this type I bought. At the time I was thinking of buying their book on the Bentley Continental, how I wish I had they sell for thousands of pounds now but that really is not the reason for me buying books like this.. In between these two books there have been several on Bristol cars at an initially reasonable price as did Christopher Belfour's excellent book which followed, look at the price dealers ask for that now.
Michael Barton entered the fray because there were aspects of the Bristol story that had not been told in depth, the first book he published Mr Bristol The Remarkable Life of T.A.D. Crook is a gem, so much to that date written about the cars, so little in many ways about the man in charge for so many years. This was followed by John Hobbs book Design and The Bristol Car, more modestly priced but still not cheap but for me an absolute must have because I own a 603.
The next book in this class was a result of the collaborations between the Heritage Trust and Palawan, The Bristol Aeroplane Company and Car Division another heavy hitter both physically and in price but also in content with a remarkable reproduction of the dispatch ledgers for the 400-406.
This left the story of the 450 which really may never have been told in such detail were it not for the discovery of a remarkable collection of Photographs,
the best of which were selected to showcase in this book. Simon Charlsworth has done an excellent job of telling the story of the 450's but its the photographs I find so compelling something that always draws me back, its a book in a way that closes the circle on the Bristol story and for that alone it was for me worth buying.
There are probably books I have which I read more often but when time permits delving into any of these is an absolute treat.
Geoff.
https://www.butterfieldpress.co.uk/