Historical Intelligence. Independent Publishing.
Restoration Obscura Press is the publishing imprint of Restoration Obscura, an independent historical intelligence platform founded by photographer, writer and researcher John Bulmer.
Our publications explore the intersection of history, documentary evidence, photography and investigative storytelling. From Cold War intelligence and forgotten infrastructure to environmental history, lost communities and historical fiction, our books examine the events, places and people that shaped the world we inherited.
Drawing on archival research, primary sources, field investigation and original photography, Restoration Obscura Press brings a documentary sensibility to every publication.
Every document is a lead. Every photograph is evidence. Every story begins with a question.
Restoration Obscura's Field Guide to the Night
DOCUMENTARY / CULTURAL HISTORY
A guided journey into the cultural, environmental, and psychological impact of losing darkness. Weaving together history, documentary photography, and storytelling, the Field Guide to the Night moves from Cold War surveillance towers to forgotten starlore, exploring what remains in the spaces we stopped paying attention to after the lights came on. For anyone who has ever looked up and wondered what we are losing.
Available in print and Kindle on Amazon.
Restoration Obscura Press | 2025
The Albany Protocol: A Story of Espionage and Deception at the Edge of Nuclear War
HISTORICAL FICTION / ESPIONAGE
October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis is at its peak. Set across a single relentless day in New York's Capital Region, The Albany Protocol is an espionage thriller grounded in the geography, technology and political tensions of the Cold War. Drawing on the documented history of the thirteen most dangerous days of the nuclear age, the novel imagines a clandestine operation unfolding far from Washington, in a region with its own place in America's Cold War history.
Available in print and Kindle on Amazon.
Restoration Obscura Press | 2026