Free Booklets with thomson's Boys Papers

[stevezodiac]

I went to the Postcard and Collectors fair in London yesterday and one seller had a pile of those miniature booklets that were given away with the Wizard, Rover, Hotspur etc. in the 40s and 50s. You know the ones that had Aeroplanes, Motor Cars, Kings or Generals from history. The were £3 apiece but I didn't buy them. Now wondering if any of you forum members would have had an interest in them? There is a proper ephemera fair on April 19th and they may turn up there. I could pick them up and pass them on to whomever is interested at no profit to myself. Would like them to have a good home. Also another seller had three Greyfriars Holiday Annuals from 1937, 38 and 39 for a fiver each in very good condition. I know nothing about Bunter stuff valuewise so didn't buy them either. (I did pick up 51 issues of Picturegoer from 1947-1956 for £40 so quite pleased).

[dandy mad]

There is an excellent book called free gifts in the big five by derek marsden that has every free gift that was given away by the big 5 and also lists the blue bird,the red arrow and the vanguard it came out in 2005 and is published by deyes press and dct costs 30 quid but it should be cheaper on amazon ect

[felneymike]

Annoyingly these things seem to show up on ebay more often than the comics themselves! I must be about the only one who is intrerested in these old story papers for the stories!

[colcool007]

There is an excellent book called free gifts in the big five by derek marsden that has every free gift that was given away by the big 5 and also lists the blue bird,the red arrow and the vanguard it came out in 2005 and is published by deyes press and dct costs 30 quid but it should be cheaper on amazon ect

It has been listed as unavailable on Amazon for quite some time. I check every month as it is on my wish list.

[Phoenix]

I wrote the book, Col, and I can assure you that it has never been available through Amazon, partly because they have never contacted me and partly because I suspect that if they did, they would demand too big a discount. I think they list it because it has an ISBN number, and this information is disseminated at the appropriate time to booksellers worldwide. Effectively, I am the sole distributor and I do have mint copies on my dining room table available for sale. Briefly, the book is a comprehensive survey with informed comment of all the free gifts that were issued with D.C. Thomsons' text story papers between the first issue of Adventure in 1921 and the last issue of The Rover in 1973. It has 256 A4 pages, 24 of which are devoted to black and white adverts from the papers, advertising next week's must-have supplement, and 24 more displaying a large selection of the free gifts themselves in full colour. The book, which has a coloured card cover, was printed for me at my expense in Dundee in 2006 by Thomsons' digital print department, and then bound up in Newcastle. My text was checked for accuracy before publication by three good friends of mine, one of whom was Ray Moore. If you are serious about wanting to obtain a copy, you have three options. You can go into any bookshop in the world and order it. That order will reach me and the cost to you will be £30 plus £4.30 p&p (in the UK) and you would collect it from your bookshop. A second method would be to deal with me directly. This would currently cost you £10 less because I am going to offer this discount price at the annual Cartophilic Society convention in Walton on Thames on Friday April 24th and Saturday the 25th. The final option would be to go to the convention itself and so save the p&p costs as well. There will be six copies available and they will be found on David Stuckey's Card Times stand.

[colcool007]

I wrote the book, Col, and I can assure you that it has never been available through Amazon, partly because they have never contacted me and partly because I suspect that if they did, they would demand too big a discount. I think they list it because it has an ISBN number, and this information is disseminated at the appropriate time to booksellers worldwide. Effectively, I am the sole distributor and I do have mint copies on my dining room table available for sale. Briefly, the book is a comprehensive survey with informed comment of all the free gifts that were issued with D.C. Thomsons' text story papers between the first issue of Adventure in 1921 and the last issue of The Rover in 1973. It has 256 A4 pages, 24 of which are devoted to black and white adverts from the papers, advertising next week's must-have supplement, and 24 more displaying a large selection of the free gifts themselves in full colour. The book, which has a coloured card cover, was printed for me at my expense in Dundee in 2006 by Thomsons' digital print department, and then bound up in Newcastle. My text was checked for accuracy before publication by three good friends of mine, one of whom was Ray Moore. If you are serious about wanting to obtain a copy, you have three options. You can go into any bookshop in the world and order it. That order will reach me and the cost to you will be £30 plus £4.30 p&p (in the UK) and you would collect it from your bookshop. A second method would be to deal with me directly. This would currently cost you £10 less because I am going to offer this discount price at the annual Cartophilic Society convention in Walton on Thames on Friday April 24th and Saturday the 25th. The final option would be to go to the convention itself and so save the p&p costs as well. There will be six copies available and they will be found on David Stuckey's Card Times stand.

How do I send you the money? Seriously I found the book's existence by accident and went OOOOHH! I WANT THAT. I keep browsing the web hoping that it would either appear on someone's Ebay or appear into Amazon or one of the other book sellers. PM me and I will use the best method of getting the money to you swiftly.

[Phoenix]

I'm putting the information here, Col, as I don't know what you mean by 'PM me'. If you send me a cheque for £24.30 made out to Derek Marsden I will send you the book on receipt. Don't forget to enclose your name and address. If you want it sent to an address outside the UK, please let me know first where you are as I would have to adjust the p&p upwards. You will not be disappointed with the book. Ray is very impressed with it, and coming from such a professional writer, compiler of information on all DC Thomson matters and enthusiast par excellence as he is acknowledged to be, that is a good enough recommendation for me. You can ignore the fact that I seem to be slagging him off on the Another landmark for Lew thread because he always accepts any critical comments I make about him in good spirit. In fact he is eagerly waiting to check the proofs of my second book This Was The Wizard, to which he has contributed all the information about the artists. DC Thomsons will be printing it for me in the autumn. I look forward to hearing from you.

[philcom55]

Gifts like Chang of the Crimson Claw starring Red Skull Branson (the man with a flaming skull branded on his forehead) really were great fun; it's a pity that later comics didn't carry on the tradition to any great extent. At a diminutive inch and a half square one could easily fit an entire library of these lurid adventures in one's vest pocket:

Such mini-titles weren't limited to DC Thomson's story papers either, as this lavishly printed pocket book given away with Mickey Mouse Weekly shows:

Incidentally I assume that 'Chang' was issued with Adventure but I'd be interested to know when, and whether the story inside had previously appeared elsewhere.

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

Incidentally I assume that 'Chang' was issued with Adventure but I'd be interested to know when, and whether the story inside had previously appeared elsewhere.

Chang of the Crimson Claw was indeed presented with Adventure, Phil. It was given away in issue 914 (May 6th 1939). It was Adventure Vest Pocket Library No 4 in a series of 9, which were issued weekly between April 15th and June 10th 1939. There were to be only two more free gifts with Adventure before the paper shortage did for all such extra titbits. The norm where this type of gift was concerned was for all the stories to be specially written. Curiously, in the week this booklet was issued, the paper carried an episode of a serial story they were running about Chang called The Yellow Peril Of Red Gulch, and so the previous week the editor was pleased to advise his readers that the following week they would have 'two big stories of Chang' but 'not too big because one will fit into your vest pocket'.

[Phoenix]

Gifts like Chang of the Crimson Claw starring Red Skull Branson (the man with a flaming skull branded on his forehead) really were great fun

Just one further comment. It may be a while since you read the story, Phil, so I think it is worth pointing out, in case anybody gets confused, that Red Skull Branson doesn't appear in this Chang story. The picture of Red Skull, which appears on the inside front cover of Chang of the Crimson Claw, is part of an advert for the story about that eponymous hero that was to be given away with issue 915 (May 13th 1939).

[AndyB]

I'm putting the information here, Col, as I don't know what you mean by 'PM me'.

PM (private messaging) button is below each post.

[Phoenix]

Thanks Andy. In the event, colcool guided me through the intricacies of this method of communication yesterday, basically by sending me a PM which I was forced to figure out how to respond to.

[philcom55]

Thanks for the information Phoenix (sorry I didn't acknowledge it sooner but I've been out of the country for a week ); it really is great to have experts like you and Kashgar on hand! You are, of course, right that I accidentally conflated the contents of VPL 4 & 5: when you think about it it's hardly likely that somebody going by the name of Red Skull Branson would be prepared to play second fiddle to anyone else... and especially not some chap called 'Chang!'

I'm fascinated by the thought that my own late father may well have read these very stories (like most boys of his generation he was a great fan of all the major story-papers throughout the 1930s) only a year or so before he was to set out for North Africa on an 'awfully big adventure' of his very own.

- Phil Rushton

[colcool007]

Just got my copy of Free Gifts In The Big Five and I can't recommend it highly enough. The indexing is first rate, the pictures are a fascinating delve into the past and the comment is informative and entertaining. A must have for any UK comics fan, especially any D C Thomson fan. While the Big Five were before my time by a fair margin, except for the last stand of Rover, I find it amazing to see and read of the same type of free gift being recycled for each generation.

The only problem is that to list the free gifts now would take a monster tome considering it is now more like toys with a free comic! But my absolute favourite image of the book has to be The Skipper cover featuring its' last free gift which was an Air Pilot Cap. It was a cardboard version of the forage cap as worn by many RAF personnel and it is especially poignant as Phoenix points out, the free gift was given out only months before the Battle Of Britain.

Oh and did I say I love it! My only grip is that the author didn't sign it!

[stevezodiac]

Just by chance today's issue of the Weekly News has this small article about the pocket libraries: