Bear Alley: Playbox Annual

BEAR ALLEY BOOKS

AVAILABLE NOW!
The Bill Kellaway Quartet by Gwyn Evans
Click here for details and payment options.
"The narrative is packed with action and I think readers will have a lot of fun with [Hercules, Esq.] and there are some genuine moments of laugh out loud humour. I can understand why the film rights for this book were snapped up and even today I could envisage it being a very enjoyable one-off TV series." — Cross Examining Crime.
"Although there’s some criminous stuff going on and Bill often finds himself vying against or working with various lawbreakers, the stakes are never really life and death in this book ... There is some slam-bang action, though, as well as a smart, really likable protagonist and a lot of really clever plot twists, but what really makes HERCULES ESQ. work is Evans’s style, which is consistently breezy, fast-paced, and funny." — James Reasoner, Rough Edges.

AVAILABLE NOW!
Private Detective / Secret Service / The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester Jun.
Click here for details and payment options.
"Forrester's The Female Detective (1864) was reprinted in 2012 as part of the British Library's Crime Classics series, cementing the notion that it heroine, Miss Gladden, was "the first female detective", although whether that is the case is challenged in the essay on Ware and his career published in this new edition of the collection — published now in a uniform edition with Forrester's two earlier collections, The Revelations of a Private Detective (1863) and Secret Service; or, Recollections of a City Detective (1864), reprinted for the first time in 150 years."

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Playbox Annual

I've been out and about with my camera in recent weeks and snapped quite a few annual covers. Here are a few for young kiddies, the Playbox Annual, featuring the hugely popular Tiger Tim, one of the biggest stars of British comics before the Second World War.

(* Illustrations © IPC Media)

4 comments:

Anonymous11 Jan 2008, 00:03:00
Lovely items! Tiger Tim, a huge star in his day is all but forgotten now. A salutary lesson to us all, methinks.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Naveed29 Nov 2016, 05:51:00
were these annuals any reflection on the monthly issues of Playbox? I mean did they re-print any of the stories from the monthly issues for the Annuals, or was the content fully novel for the Annuals? I ask particularly as I own an original pic from Playbox issue of July 23rd 1937, and wondering if by chance it would show up in the 1938 Annual....
ReplyDelete
Replies
Steve29 Nov 2016, 08:37:00
The Playbox Annual would be all-original material, following in the tradition of the Greyfriars Holiday Annual, which was also all-new. Older story papers - Boys' Own Paper, for instance - printed weekly issues which were then re-released as monthly papers (I suspect originally they were unsold weekly parts in a new wrapper), and then gathered together in bound volumes each six months or annually. That had changed by the 1920s, when the majority of annuals published original material.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Naveed29 Nov 2016, 14:20:00
Oh Crikey (as they would say at Greyfriars). Not the answer I wanted. If anyone comes across a Playbox (I would assume monthly) issue of July 23rd 1937, could they please get in touch with me here? The pic I have shows two children (a girl and a boy with caps on) running down some steps on a hill or mountainside, with the sea in the background (on the right side of the pic).
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

COMIC INDEXES

AVAILABLE NOW!
Countdown to TV Action
Click here for details and payment options.
"The perfect compliment to my set of Countdown/TV Action" - Graham Bleathman.
"A wonderful trip down memory lane. Recommended" - Paul Simpson, Sci-Fi Bulletin
"If you read Countdown as a child, you'll be fascinated by this account of its making ... indispensable." - John Freeman, Down the Tubes
"The definitive history of the title" - Lew Stringer, Blimey!
"I urge you to grab a copy and give Steve Holland a tip of the hat for the amount of hard work, research and love he's poured into making a book of information become an interesting story" - Barnaby Eaton-Jones, The Cult Den

NON-FICTION

AVAILABLE NOW!
Forgotten Authors Vol.1
Click here for details and payment options
"This is utterly fascinating: what a terrific accomplishment! It has held and engaged me. Authors who are only names have been documented and recorded, from the pathetic to the successful, and everywhere in between. This is incredible research, and I cannot begin to thank you enough for sharing it. I’m dipping into it with absolutely enormous pleasure."—Richard Bleiler
"Recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of books, book publishing, obscure authors or even researching family history. Looking forward to Volume 2"—Amazon review.

AVAILABLE NOW!
Iron Mask: The Story of Harry Bensley's "Walking Round the World" Hoax
Click here for details and payment options.
"The story sounds like an implausible Hollywood film but it was true! Who was the Man in the Iron Mask (no, not the French novel by Dumas!)? He set off from Trafalgar Square to push a pram around the world in January 1908 to win a £20,000 bet! he seems to have been a lovable rogue and this was not the first time he had hoodwinked people! I won't say more so I don't spoil the story as it's wilder than even this! Steve Holland has preserved a wonderful British eccentric's story for us all to enjoy. Give it as a Birthday or Christmas present to anyone who's curious about people in any way!" Amazon - 5 stars
"The whole unearthing of this incident from the early 20th century is one of brilliant detective work on behalf of Steve Holland -whose research skills in tying up characters and authors and their works is next to none!" Goodreads - 5 stars

The Men Behind the Flying Saucer Review
Click here for details and payment options
"Beginning in 1955, the Flying Saucer Review has been key to chronicling the appearance of Unidentified Flying Objects and the latest theories of why they have been appearing in our skies. A dedicated group of enthusiasts - amongst them an accountant, a publisher's editor, a test pilot, a novelist and a member of the House of Lords - were amongst those who helped put together this remarkable magazine. Who they were and how they came to work together makes for a fascinating tale, some of it as curious as the phenomena the magazine studied."
"Interesting account of the people who founded the Flying Saucer Review which at its peak was arguably the foremost UFO journal in the world." - Nigel Parkinson, Amazon

Click here for details and payment options
"I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it again straight away. Never having followed sidecar racing, I had reservations before I started reading. Well it’s only 150 pages I thought, let’s get it over and done with! How wrong I was; I couldn’t put it down. This is one of the best motorcycling books I’ve ever read and John and his partner Tony Davis have done a cracking job. The pictures are great too and capture the changing face of Britain over the past fifty or so years. I urge you to get hold of a copy now." - Jim Plant, Velocette Owners Club

OUT OF PRINT!
Arena
Click here for details and payment options
"This book goes straight to the top of my large reading pile" - Graeme Neil Reid
"With reality TV overload and the rise of the risque and the brutality of today’s society, this story still has a pertinent message for those of us who are willing to listen to it. In fact, I think the story is more relevant today than it was in 1979." - Colin Noble, Down the Tubes
"The story is a fun read, but the star of the show is the art. Alcatena is a class act." - Hibernia Comics

About Me

YOU CAN CONTACT ME DIRECTLY AT...

Ebay

BEAR ALLEY BOOKS

My latest books

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Playbox Annual

4 comments:

BEAR ALLEY BOOKS

AVAILABLE NOW

COMIC INDEXES

COMIC STRIP REPRINTS

NON-FICTION

SEXTON BLAKE ANNUALS

OUT OF PRINT

UK Comics Bibliography

Blog Archive

Navigation

Links: Sites of Interest