Heritage Press Limited, established in 1989 but idle for much of the last decade, has a new owner — one of its original shareholders — and is back on the New Zealand publishing scene.

Patricia Dunmore (also a director of Upstart Press) bought the company back after it had been sold outside of the family, and will be releasing its first book on 11 August. This Town, is a collection of entertaining short stories, with a few snippets of poetry, from 14 different authors. It has been the culmination of several years work by Feilding writers, and received support from the NZ Creative Communities Fund.

In September, Heritage Press re-releases an exceptional piece of New Zealand publishing history, with The Fateful Voyage of the St Jean Baptiste, a true account of M. de Surville’s Expedition to the Unknown South Seas, 1769-70. The book, by John Dunmore, MNZM, won the Wattie Book of the Year Award in 1970 and will be published in hardback form as well as an eBook for the first time.

With several other works of non-fiction in the pipeline, Heritage Press is planning to produce a modest collection of works that will continue to preserve Aotearoa’s past for future generations. They also have plans to convert around 50 earlier publications into eBooks, so their contents will be available to generations of researchers and history enthusiasts around the world.

Heritage Press books are being distributed through Upstart Distribution in Auckland to New Zealand booksellers and libraries, and via their website, heritagepress.nz.