Welcome to

Stevens Books

Specialising in innovative historical and archeological non-fiction books about Devon and Cornwall

PLEASE NOTE -AMAZON We are aware that some customers like to buy through Amazon but they currently are stating long delivery dates of May 2024 for the new book. Customers need to go to the “other sellers” to get us as a merchant seller and we deliver within a few days.

We post books to you as soon as we receive your orders either here or through Amazon.

See below and our events page for details

About Us

Since 2002 we’ve sought, selected and retailed academic books with the twin themes “local studies” and “historical interest”.

Stevens Books is sole distributor for The Mint Press, working closely with Todd Gray, and occasionally other local publishers.

NB. (Disclaimer – Please note that we have no connection with another similarly named publisher – Steven books and hope we can clear up any confusion there may be. We deal with local history books only. We are “STEVENS” Books).

Dr. Todd Gray. If you would like more information about Todd Gray please click on left orange button above. For details of his planned lectures and events click on right orange Events Page above.

What’s new? See below

EXETER LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Announces the public unveiling of its project
Exeter’s Lost Buildings: Destruction from 1800 to 1899
by Dr Todd Gray MBE

This book was launched 26 October 2023, at Exeter Guildhall. Todd Gray changes the way we think about Exeter’s history by opening up the topic of the loss of the city’s historic buildings in the 1800s. He has brought into print a hitherto-unappreciated collection of images that chronicle destruction in the city centre. Todd outlines the main reasons for loss which have not been previously understood.

The book is now available for purchase on our webpage shop and through bookshops.

See below other recent books we sell.

Devon’s Last Slave-Owners

Orders can now be taken through our website shop page or over the telephone. Overseas customers can e-mail us for the postage and to agree a payment method.

For a Full description please go to our shop page for this book.

We are grateful to Sharon Goble and Devon Life for this article that was in the October issue of the magazine.

Read Devonshire Associations review of Devon’s Last Slave Owners

The 1st of August 1834 marked the day of emancipation of slaves across the British Empire and, as an acknowledgement for the loss of their workers, slave owners were able to claim compensation from the British Government. This book uses the records available for these payments to begin to establish who, connected with Devon, owned slaves on that day.

Todd Gray is a well-established author on many aspects of Devon’s history, including a previous book Devon and the Slave Trade related to this topic, and his skill in research is very evident in this book. My copy arrived with a bookmark with the heading ‘History that Hurts’ and the discomfort I felt whilst reading it attests to the veracity of that phrase, but this is an important book and details various documented connections of and to slave ownership within the county.

The detail included in this comprehensive book is extraordinary. Known slave owning families, their benefits and their location within Devon are, sometimes minutely, detailed together with the distribution of their estates. The fact that ‘Devon was home’ was sometimes demonstrated by calling plantations after Devon places and these are listed. Connections of all sorts are thoroughly explored – from individual colonies and who, with a Devon connection, owned slaves there, to resorts in Devon where slave owning families lived. Details are given of all outright slave owners living in the county on Emancipation Day with their recompense (also shown converted to current value) often together with the number of slaves released. Other beneficiaries such as trustees, legatees, mortagees, annuitants and creditors are all included. The issue of what is a Devon connection is covered by including those born in the county, those who retired to the county and those who moved to Devon both from within the UK and from the colonies.

Apart from the compensation claim documentation, extensive use is made of other records such as censuses, parish registers, newspapers and correspondence – perhaps some of the most telling of all. This expansive use of documents allows for revelation of the most interesting facts which really enliven the book. There are many illustrations of portraits, landscapes and artefacts and the origin of all of these is detailed. The text is written with numbered superscripts referring to notes all gathered at the end of the book and there is an extensive index.

In his preface Dr Gray refers to the killing in the United States of George Floyd on 25 May 2020. The issue of race relations is a complex and conflict-ridden matter. British slave ownership can be broadly said to have occurred overseas, in contrast to that of America where it was within the country (until 1865), but the British Empire existed until 1997 – hence within our memory. The approach we decide to take in considering our past – whether to accept, to celebrate or to atone can be hugely divisive but there is no doubt that both proper consideration of the facts and impartiality is essential. This book provides those facts, as slavery in the Empire ended, and will be an indispensable source for the future.

Many thanks to The Devonshire Association for their review.

St. Martin’s Island, Exeter

The Mint Press has reprinted it’s best seller St. Martin’s Island, by Todd Gray & Sue Jackson. The book is about the Royal Clarence Hotel fire and details the history of the surrounding buildings some of which were damaged in the fire.


William Birchynshaw’s Map of Exeter, 1743

This book can be ordered by telephone only – please call us. 01392 459760

This is a major re-examination of the history of map making in Exeter. It follows from the recent discovery of a “new” Georgian town map of the city. That map by William Birchynshaw is reproduced in facsimile along with nearly two dozen other maps from 1587 through to 1949 with contributions from the editors to place them in context.

Published 2019. Hardback 59 Pages.  Size 27.5cm x 32 cm

35 Illustrations mostly maps or details of Exeter Maps

Editors Richard Oliver, Roger Kain and Todd Gray. ISBN 9780901853974

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The Exeter Cloth Dispatch Book, 1763-1765

Published by the Devon and Cornwall Record Society.

This book can be ordered by telephone only – please call us. 01392 459760

Now reprinted.

A richly illustrated exploration of the national and international importance of the early modern Exeter cloth trade.

This book reproduces a newly discovered manuscript detailing the exports of Claude Passavant, a Swiss émigré merchant. Passavant’s dispatch book comprises the most extensive surviving collection of Devon cloth with 2,475 surviving cloth samples. Thirteen chapters discuss the local and wider contexts of sixteenth century cloth making. This study explores the quality, range, and vibrancy of cloth that lead to Exeter becoming an internationally renowned centre for the manufacture and trade of woollen cloth.

Published February 2021. Hardback 352 Pages. 

Size 17 x 24 cm 255 colour and 15 line Illustrations

Edited by Todd Gray ISBN 9780901853639

Edited by Todd Gray. Special temporary “launch” price £25.00 whilst limited stocks last. Please telephone us if you would like a copy. 01392 459760.

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