As well as their extensive software range, Melbourne House were well known for releasing a wide selection of programming books for most 8-bit platforms. These were considered to be essential reading, especially coming from such a high profile publisher. While most were system specific, a few were generic multi-format titles.
We’ll update this over time adding more systems, titles and credits and additional details for as many of these as we can identify.
Updated: 28th April 2025
Multiformat
Title
Author
Cover Art
6502 Reference Guide
Alan Tully
A Guide To Playing The Hobbit
David Elkan
C For Beginners
Ian Sinclair
Learning With Adventure Programs
Rosetta McLeod
The Computer And Video Games Book Of Adventure
Keith Campbell
Z80 Reference Guide
Alan Tully
Amstrad
Title
Author
Cover Art
Advanced Amstrad BASIC
Joe Pritchard
Amstrad CPC464 Whole Memory Guide
Don Thomasson
Amstrad Games Book CPC464 & CPC664
Kevin Bergin
Andrew Lacey
Amstrad Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner
Joe Pritchard
Music & Sound On Your Amstrad
Ian Sinclair
Ready Made Machine Language Routines for the Amstrad CPC464/664
Joe Pritchard
The Ins & Outs Of The Amstrad
Don Thomasson
The User’s Guide to the Amstrad PCW8256/8512
Don Thomasson
Writing Adventure Games On The Amstrad CPC464/CPC664
Mike Lewis
Simon Price
Atari
Title
Author
Cover Art
Atari 130XE Games Book
Richard Woolcock, Graeme Stretton
Atari 130XE Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner
Kevin Bergin
BBC
Title
Author
Cover Art
BBC BASIC For Beginners
David Smith
BBC Hardware Projects
Don Thomasson
BBC Software Projects
Rudolf Smit
Building Blocks For BBC Games
Bruce Bayley
Guide To The BBC ROMs
Don Thomasson
Commodore 16
Title
Author
Cover Art
C16 Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner
Commodore 16 Exposed
Cameron Duffy, Richard Woolcock
Commodore 16 Games Book
Cameron Duffy, Richard Woolcock
Commodore 64
Title
Author
Cover Art
Commodore 64 Exposed
Bruce Bayley
Commodore 64 Games Book
Clifford and Mark Ramshaw
Commodore 64 Games Book 2
Gregg Barnett
Commodore 64 Machine Language For The Absolute Beginner
Danny Davis
Commodore 64 Software Projects
Rudolf Smit
Commodore 64 Sound & Graphics
Peter Falconer
Supercharge Your Commodore 64
Barry Thomas
Note: The title for Commodore 64 Software Projects seems to vary from the front and rear cover as well as inside the book itself!
Dragon 32
Title
Author
Cover Art
Dragon 32 Programmers Reference Guide
John Vander Reyden
Dragon Machine Language For The Absolute Beginner
John Vander Reyden
Enter The Dragon
Colin Carter
MSX
Title
Author
Cover Art
MSX Exposed
Joe Pritchard
MSX Games Book
Andrew Lacey
MSX Machine Language For The Absolute Beginner
Joe Pritchard
The Conplete MSX Programmers Guide
Toshiyuki Sato
Paul Mapstone
Isabella Mueiel
Oric-1
Title
Author
Cover Art
Meteoric Programming For The Oric-1
Vic 20
Title
Author
Cover Art
Vic 20 Exposed
John Vander Reyden
Vic Innovative Computing
Clifford Ramshaw
ZX Spectrum
Title
Author
Cover Art
Advanced Spectrum Machine Language
David Webb
Over The Spectrum
Philip Williams
Spectrum Hardware Manual
Adrian Dickens
Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner
William Tang
Spectrum Shadow ROM Disassembly
Gianluca Carri
Super Charge Your Spectrum
David Webb
The Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly
Dr Ian Logan, Dr Frank O’Hara
Understanding Your Spectrum: Basic and Machine Code Programming
Dr Ian Logan
More titles, details and cover art to be added shortly.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Leave a Reply