My friend Peter Tolhurst, who has died aged 81, was a conservationist, author and publisher. In 1995 his fascination with local distinctiveness led him to create Black Dog Books for the publication of titles celebrating East Anglia’s cultural landscape. These included new works by Ronald Blythe, Elspeth Barker and Richard Mabey, who said he was “the pivotal figure in East Anglian literary culture”.

Peter was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, during the second world war to Lilian (nee Jones), who was in the Women’s Land Army, and Alfred Tolhurst, who served in the Royal East Kent Regiment. After the war, the family moved to Sturry, near Canterbury. The aftermath of bombing raids on the historic city was the backdrop to Peter’s youth and influenced his later commitment to building conservation. He attended Simon Langton grammar school for boys, where his teacher, Harry Mountford, inspired Peter’s enduring interest in historic landscape.

After studying geography at Durham University (1963-66) – the first of his family to pursue higher education – he completed a postgraduate degree in town planning at Nottingham Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University) and a fellowship in vernacular architecture studies at Manchester University. He moved to Norfolk in the mid-1970s, becoming Breckland council’s historic buildings officer soon after. Over the following decades of dedicated conservation work he accumulated a deep knowledge of Norfolk’s landscape and culture, which he distilled into his books.

Writing and publishing were driving forces in the second half of his life. Starting in 1996 with his own work, East Anglia: A Literary Pilgrimage, he single-handedly produced – from his living room – 33 beautifully designed titles. These included three volumes of selected East Anglian short stories; Knowing Your Place, a collection of essays on the region’s landscapes and literature; Water Marks: Art in East Anglia by Ian Collins; and selected writing by Blythe, Barker and Sylvia Townsend Warner.

Of his own work, his greatest personal achievement was the three-volume collection Norfolk Parish Treasures, in which he drew together information on buildings, archaeology, place names, wildlife, customs and cultural connections for each parish in the county. But his most popular book is This Hollow Land: Aspects of Norfolk Folklore, still selling eight years after publication.

Peter’s strongly held opinions and single-minded energy could be challenging at times, but these qualities were tempered by his sense of fun and infectious enthusiasm.

He is survived by his son, Bert, from a marriage that ended in divorce in 1989, and his grandson, Alfred.