This interesting little booklet was published for many years right up until closure in 1968. It contains lots of useful content for Fretworkers.

Leaflet and design for beginners given with Hobbies Fretwork Outfits and Treadle Machines

Hobbies Sales leaflet 1950's & 1960's. By this time traditional fretwork had gone, designs were for models & dolls houses etc.

Hobbies small books from days long gone.

A few pages of a Hobbies sales leaflet from 1954. Notice the Companion Lathe still in production since it first appeared in 1897!

Hobbies A1 fret-machine instructions leaflet. The A1 was manufactured from around 1900 until Hobbies ceased trading in 1968

Fretwork Designs Book C, showing some sample pages. you can download some of these plans on the simple & easy designs page.

Post WWII Hobbies leaflet listing some of the products available.

Hobbies Sales leaflet from 1939 advertising 'Money in every page' for their 1939 Handbook!

In this leaflet Hobbies claim that their Tool sets are the most popular on earth!

This superb model of Nelson's column was offered by Hobbies during the 1890's. It stood some 51 inches (1295mm) high and was 22 inches (559mm) at the base. It took me 12 A3 pages to scan the design. the design was in pieces and I have not renovated it yet.  My late grandfather made this model and for years it stood in his house then disappeared, I have no idea what happened to it. In later years Hobbies published a new design of Nelson's column, however it was a much smaller and  a much less elaborate version, nothing like the 1890's one.