Stella & Rose's Books

This book ran from 1923 to 1940 and was the Annual companion to Adventure Comic.

We have dated them using The Hamer Comic Annual Guide No. 1 published in 2000.

 

 

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Featuring the popular characters that originally appeared in The Beano comic.  The strip proved so popular, that they were given their own annuals!

The gallery on our pages show the cover images of the different annuals.View Annuals

The Beano book No. 1 was published in 1940 and annuals have been published by D.C. Thompson & Co. every year since, shortly changing their name to The Magic-Beano Book, before reverting to the former.

From 1942 to 1949 the annual was called "The Magic-Beano Book", which referred to the short-lived Magic Comic that had ceased publication in 1941.View Annuals

The Dandy Monster Comic was 1st published in 1939, by D.C. Thomson & Co. It continued to be published as this until 1953, when it was changed to The Dandy Book.

The name has recently changed to The Dandy Annual and is still published annually.View Annuals

Dennis the Menace was originally published every other year but in 1987 the decision was taken to publish an edition every year.

During its history the publication has sometimes included 'and Gnasher' or 'Book' within the title, and the date was included after 1968. There was no 2012 annual.View Annuals

The Film Fun Annual accompanied the weekly comic 'Film Fun' which featured well-known screen stars of the day. 

The comic first appeared in the 1920s, but the first Annual was published for 1938.

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The Hotspur was originally produced as a boys' paper by D. C. Thomson & Co. from 1933 to 1959.

It was re-launched in 1959, initially called the New Hotspur, and continued in production as a comic  until 1981.

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Rupert Bear annuals are probably some of the most avidly collected today. First published in an annual in 1936, Rupert has been published every year since, in varying formats.

The famous illustrator Mary Tourtel created Rupert and he first appeared in the Daily Express issue of 8th November 1920. Her husband, Herbert Tourtel, also played a part - he wrote the verses which appeared with the drawings.View Annuals

The Topper Book annuals were published from 1955 to 1994.

The annuals from 1955 to 1959 were oblong format. The comic itself was launched on 7th February. Published by D.C. Thompson.

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The Victor Book for Boys was an annual publication to accompany the weekly comic 'Victor'.

It ran from 1964 - 1994.

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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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As a child (too long ago now) I remember being so happy to receive book tokens at Christmas time. I would save them until the New Year and then use them to buy as many annuals as I possibly could in the sales. Usually one or two of the girls annuals (such as Bunty for Girls or June for Girls) and of course a copy of the most popular annual of all – The Beano Annual.

 

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My sister and I were avid Blue Peter fans in our childhoods and everything stopped on a Monday and a Thursday evening for half an hour as we sat glued to the television. Blue Peter was first broadcast on the 16th October 1958 but it would be the late 1960s before we started to tune in.

 

 

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When tidying along the shelves in the Annuals section at Rose's books I find that the shelf below the 'Girl' annuals and above the 'Greyfriars Holiday' annuals always seems to take a little longer. The reason? This is the shelf where the Gran'Pop Annuals live and I can't resist a peep at the illustrations within.

 

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Life was different in the years immediately after World War II. Rationing was the norm, and you had to wait for everything. Although we had a daily newspaper, my brother and I were not allowed to have a regular subscription to a comic, such as ' Beano' or ' Dandy', and had to buy copies with our extremely limited pocket money, ...

 

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I wonder how many children received an Annual this Christmas? I suspect that many of us looked forward to receiving an annual in our Christmas stockings judging by the conversations I have with our customers. Given the large range of annuals we have in stock there has always been plenty of choice. 

 

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Our Darlings "The Best Monthly Magazine For Young Folks"

We recently purchased a collection of annuals from auction. In among them were a few copies of “Our Darlings”. These annuals really stood out to me as they are attractive books with pictorial front covers and illustrated by well known artists of the time (the editions we purchased were from the early 1900's).

 

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Published by the Daily Express the year after World War 2 ended, paper was still in short supply so War Economy Standard was still in use and the annual was produced with soft covers.

 

 

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If, like me, you are fascinated by the wizardry of magicians, conjurors and illusionists then this little book will be of interest to you. It is actually a collection, bound together, comprising three copies of The Wizard’s Annual dating from 1913 through to 1916 and two additional small volumes – Moments Of Mystery and Miscellaneous Magic written by Percy Naldrett.

 

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