Purposes of the Trust

Increasingly stringent economic conditions in the book publishing industry have marginalised specialised and low-volume titles regardless of their historic worth. The Michael Sedgwick Trust exists to encourage new and original research into any aspect of motoring history. It wishes to see this research reach the public domain. This can be through the publication of the research as a book, other printed medium or publishing on the world wide web. The Trust gives advice to would-be authors and tries to “connect up” authors and publishers. The Trust’s view is that even books with a very limited sales potential should be published if the subject matter is worthy and the research is new and comprehensive.

In cases where the publisher believes that the subject is worthy of publication but is not going to be a viable commercial proposition, the Michael Sedgwick Trust can often offer some financial help to bridge the gap.

Where the research is of a very specialist nature and is not commercially viable, the Trust may offer funding to assist that research provided that copies of the manuscripts are lodged in selected specialist libraries, County Record Offices and possibly published on the world wide web. See page “How Can I Apply?”