Portrayal Press LLC
PO Box 944
Branchville, NJ 07826
Toll Free: 855-339-0382


Portrayal Press was started back in 1980 by Dennis Spence, a U.S. Army veteran with a passion for books and military vehicles. Dennis turned his interest and knowledge into a massive collection of technical information on U.S. vehicles and gear from WWI to the modern day. Dennis attracted friends and fellow enthusiasts as quickly as he collected books and the crew soon founded the Military Vehicle Preservation Association and our local affiliate, the Military Transport Association or MTA. A little trivia: Dennis is member #1 of the MVPA!

From humble garage beginnings, Portrayal grew with the military vehicle hobby and became a vital resource for enthusiasts, restorers, historians and museums throughout the world. Dennis operated Portrayal for over 30 years until he about 2012 when he decided it was time to retire to warmer climates.

Serendipity is a funny thing. Patrick Tipton was fulfilling a lifelong dream of restoring a WW2 jeep and just happened to go to the Red Ball Military Club Swap Meet in Pennsylvania in September of 2012. There he was chatting with Pete DeBella of Pete DeBella Jeep Parts about restoring jeeps and manuals. Pete casually remarked that Patrick better "buy his manuals now because the printer is going out of business." Turns out that Dennis and Portrayal was only 20 minutes away from Patrick's home and with a background in business and media, Patrick soon decided to go into the publishing business. A deal was struck and the journey began.

When purchased, Portrayal had a minimal web presence and had not published a catalog in over 4 years. We quickly launched a website and have been working non-stop to get the over 2,500 titles listed, photographed and correctly cataloged. It has been a bigger job than we imagined, but we are starting to tame the tiger.

Today, we have both originals and high-quality, bound reproductions of original government publications, including Technical Manuals, ORD’s, service bulletins as well as a great curated selection of related commercial titles from the best publishers worldwide. We have also started publishing our own history titles on vehicles ranging from the G506 to the German Tiger Tank. As enthusiasts ourselves, we are trying to create publications that we would like to own. To us, that means exhaustive research, gorgeous printing and design and a deep dive into any topic. As the saying goes, we want to be one inch wide and one mile deep!

We are also continuously learning how to use technology to both improve the quality of our reproductions as well as lower the cost. We have work to do here, but we are getting better all the time and dropping prices as we do.

We are always adding to inventory and If you don't see what you're looking for, please be sure to ask. We are available toll-free, Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 6:00pm ET, at 855-339-0382, or anytime via email at [email protected].

Find us here and follow us on Facebook, @PortrayalPress on Twitter or on Pinterest.

If you want to pay by check or prefer to correspond the "ole fashioned way", our mailing address is:

Portrayal Press LLC
PO Box 944
Branchville, NJ 07826