The Empire Annual for Australian Boys

The Empire Annual for Australian Boys was the generic Empire Annual published by the RTS (Religious Tract Society) between the years 1909 to 1933. This example lacks the title page and frontispiece.

The Children's Story Book

The Children's Story Book was published by Thomas Nelson and Sons who were notorious for not inserting a date in their books. Contains four Enid Blyton stories, namely "Brighteyes and the Raggle-Taggle Folk", "Peeky and the Broom", "A Lovely Surprise" and "The Mysterious Noise".

Australian Boys' Annual (1914)

The Australian Boys' Annual was the local market edition of The British Boys' Annual, published 1911-1929. Published firstly by Cassell & Co, later by Amalgamated Press.

The year can usually be determined by the number on the title page, lower left, in this case, "14" meaning 1914.

Warne's Pleasure Book for Girls

Warne's published both Pleasure Book for Girls and Pleasure Book for Boys. First launched in 1925. Warne's are better known for their Observer's series and Beatrix Potter series.

Bo Peep Annual

Unlike Bo-Peep's Bumper Book, Bo-Peep Annual was published by Cassells, from 1882 until 1924.

Bo-Peep's Bumper Book

Another Amalgamated Press annual, this one ran from 1925 to 1936. 

The comic ran from 1929 until 1934 with a total of 235 weekly issues.

Palmer's Schoolboys' Story Book

Palmer's was a (mercier) clothing store in Park St, Sydney. Perhaps it was better known to later generations as F J Palmer's. This undated volume in the format of an annual was apparently produced in the 1920s, but could well have been on sale until WW2 or later. Possibly published for Palmer's by Collins in the UK.

Puck Annual

Puck Annual was another Amalgamated Press children's annual and ran from 1921 until 1941. Colourful front covers and a delightful frontispiece would greet the eager child receiving this volume for Christmas during those long-gone years between two world wars.

The weekly comic paper of the same name lasted for 1867 issues, from 1904 until 1940.

Radio Fun, 1945

This Radio Fun annual 1945 (published late 1944) has seen better days. On the other hand, it has lot of character! During the war years, radio kept up the spirits of those able to tune in. For those without their own sets, there was the pub or work place. The war had dragged on for 5 years and the radio had made stars out of many of those whose voices came via the air waves. You'll find many of them within this magnificent volume, and I've added some shots of content for your perusal.

Radio Fun Annual was published by Amalgamated Press for about 20 years and if memory serves, Tony Hancock appeared on the very last, 1960.

The weekly comic version of Radio Fun ran through from 1938 to 1961; a total of 1167 issues.

Vintage Children's Annuals

Why not extract a shelf of children's annuals, photograph each and post some information along with each photo? Are there any collectors out there still interested in annuals? I'm beginning to wonder. Maybe they're all busy reading those annuals to bother about looking online. I must admit I'm spending less and less time on Facebook. So that's what I did this morning. Here's a photo showing a sample of what will appear.

The Collection

It's taken more than a decade to open every box of books and magazines I moved from the family home, and storage. In that time life has changed somewhat. Yes, I'm still living in the mountains. No, I no longer sell books on online via that auction site. FACEBOOK has become the medium of contact for most of my friends. The blog seemed too much trouble. However, it occurred to me that the blog could be linked to my Facebook feed. Who gave me that idea? Lily, of course. It will be a different type of blog. Different perhaps, as I'm an old bloke, on the pension, and each time I think about that, I pinch myself, expecting to wake up! Expect the unexpected, no. A picture is worth numerous words, so here's a picture, provided I remember how to post it ...