Annuals |
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| One of the greatest
pleasures of my childhood was receiving an annual at Christmas.
This usually came from a maiden aunt who always managed
to choose one that was just right. I can still recall the
hours of fun playing "Black Jake's Treasure" even
though I can not remember the name of the annual that contained
it. However I am sure that someone can enlighten me!
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| The point is that the annual
was a surprise, and that it delighted. However, it was only
recently that I found out a little of the history of the Annual.
They seem to have appeared in the early 1800's, or at least
that is when the word started to appear in the title. The
contents were generally bound volumes of the weekly or monthly
issues, occasionally with some extra material thrown in. It
was possible for readers to choose the type of binding they
could afford, which probably accounts for all the differing
bindings that are found with "The Strand Magazine"
for example. Luckily it soon became the practise to bind most
of the magazines, which is why so many are still available
now. |
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Strictly speaking an Annual should only be issued once
in a year, but several of the magazines issued bound copies
every six months, and these generally fall within the
category of annuals.
The style of the annuals began to change in the early
1900's, when the publishers started to produce new material.
Titles like "Blackie's Childrens Annual" and
"Herbert Strang's Annual for Boys" started to
appear and proved very popular, and very collectable.
However the real growth came soon after the end of the
1914 - 18 war, when publishers, principally Amalgamated
Press, started producing regular issues in the late autumn
for the Christmas trade.
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| Titles such as "Rainbow", "Tiger Tim"
and many others were so successful that the characters were
often promoted to their own annual. |
| The main rival
to Amalgamated was D.C.Thomson, from north of the border.
Familiar titles like "Rover", "Hotspur"
and "Wizard" appeared in the 1930's, with the
"Dandy Monster Comic" and "The Beano Book"
arriving around 1940.
Most newspapers had been printing picture strips for the
children since the early 1920's and it wasn't long before
they too started producing their annuals. "Pip, Squeak
and Wilfred" (Daily Mirror), "Uncle Oojah"
(Daily Sketch), "Teddy Tail" (Daily Mail) and
most famously of all "Rupert" in the Daily Express,
the only one still going strong. Even the big London stores
got in on the act, producing their own, and now exceedingly
rare, annuals. |
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In the main annuals seem to have been directed
at boys, but during the 20's and 30's titles for the very
young started to appear. Titles like Baby's Own, Chick's
Own, Playbox, and Willie Waddle. Apart from the The Girls'
Own Paper, Girl Crystal, Schoolfriend Annuals and a few
others, the ladies appear to have been rather neglected.
The advent of cinema, radio and, of course, television
gave rise to a huge number of Titles which appealed to all
members of the family. |
From individual stars(Shirley Temple Annual) to Film Preview,
Archie Andrews to Radio Fun, Film Fun , T V Fun, Buffalo Bill,
Kit Carson, you name it, if it was popular, then there would
be an annual, even if it had only one issue. Film makers such
as Disney authorised annuals based on their cartoon characters
with Mickey Mouse, (MICKEY MOUSE SCAN) Donald Duck, Goofy
and Pluto annuals to be joined by Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry
et al. Sport and Pop Music also gave rise to a vast number
of Titles especially in the 70's and 80's. |
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Some characters are considered especially collectable. Billy
Bunter in the Holiday Annual and The Knockout Annual, Rupert,
Sexton Blake and Dan Dare to name but a few.
Here at Stella and Rose's Books we have well over a thousand
annuals for you to view, as well as some 30,000+ other titles,
and we would love to hear from you.
Contributed by David Starling |
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