DC Thomson Picture Libraries

[bubbadog]

Hi Folks,

can anyone tell me how many issues the following Picture Libraries ran for:

Mandy
Judy
Debbie
Bunty

I am also curious about Star, another picture story library.

many thanks

Pete

[helsbels]

I'll have to check later to make sure, but I'm 99% certain that the Debbie libraries ran for 197 issues, Bunty for 455(ish!), Mandy for 277 and Judy for 357(ish again!). I've misplaced my memory stick of info but when I find it (and I will!) I will get back to you!

[philcom55]

It's worth remembering that some useful details for a lot of publications can now be found on the British Library website. This, for example, is the entry for Judy Picture Library, indicating that the series ran for 375 issues:

Title: Judy picture story library for girls.
Other Titles: Variant Title: Judy library
Key Title: Judy. Picture story library for girls
Publication Details: London : D.C. Thomson
Language: English
Identifier: ISSN: 0262-2661; System number: 015490796
Creation Date: 1963
Physical Description: v. : ill. ; 18 cm.
Holdings Notes: General Reference Collection Car.553 No. 1 (1963)-no. 375 (1994)
Shelfmark(s): General Reference Collection Car.553

- Phil Rushton

[Digifiend]

1960s? Wow, they're older than I thought.

Bunty

Title: Bunty picture story library for girls.
Publisher/year: London : D.C. Thomson, 1963-
Physical descr.: v. : ill. ; 18 cm.
Holdings note: General Reference Collection Car.554 No. 1 (1963)-no. 453 (1997)
Serial holdings: Year 1996
Serial holdings: Year 1995
Serial holdings: Year 1992
Serial holdings: Details
Shelfmark: Car.554 Request

453 issues (only two less than the guess).

Debbie

Title: Debbie picture story library for girls.
Dates of pub.: No. 1-
Other title: Debbie library
Publisher/year: London : D.C. Thomson, 1978-
Physical descr.: v. : chiefly ill. ; 18 cm.
Publicat. frequency: Monthly
Subject: Comic books, strips, etc. -- England -- Periodicals.
Subject: English strip cartoons Collections
Holdings note: General Reference Collection Car.671 No. 1 (1978)-no. 275
Serial holdings: Year 1994
Serial holdings: Year 1993
Serial holdings: Year 1992
Serial holdings: Year 1991
Serial holdings: Year 1990
Shelfmark: Car.671 Request

275 issues (a fair bit longer than you thought helsbels!).

Mandy

Title: Mandy picture story library for girls.
Dates of pub.: No. 1 (1978)-
Other title: Mandy library
DSC shelving title: MANDY PICTURE STORY LIBRARY FOR GIRLS.
Publisher/year: London : D.C. Thomson, 1978-
Physical descr.: v. : ill. ; 18 cm.
Publicat. frequency: Monthly
Terms of use: British Library not licensed to copy 0
Subject: Comic books, strips, etc. -- England -- Periodicals.
Subject: English strip cartoons Collections
Other shelfmark: British Library DSC 5359.886000N
Holdings note: General Reference Collection Car.672 No. 1 (1978)-no. 275 (1997)
Serial holdings: Year 1997
Serial holdings: Year 1996
Serial holdings: Year 1995
Serial holdings: Year 1994
Serial holdings: Year 1993
Serial holdings: Year 1992
Serial holdings: Year 1991
Serial holdings: Year 1990
Shelfmark: Car.672 Request

275 issues (again, two fewer than guessed).

Seems they were all axed at the same time as the Beano and Dandy libraries in 1997 - although they got replacements, these did not.

Couldn't find Star. Knowing the exact title would help.

[helsbels]

Debbie picture library definitely had 197 issues and I have the very last issue - "My Secret Sister" which was a reprint of no 89 "The Truth about Trudy's Teacher". I know it was the final issue as there was no advert for the next month's issue. Debbie was the first of the four picture libraries to end, then sometime later Judy and Mandy and Bunty libraries finished at the same time I believe.

[Digifiend]

Hmm, if that's the case, someone at the BL needs a good slap in the face. Surely the folks at the British Library know when their collections stop. Debbie's libraries started at the same time as Mandy's, but ended 78 issues earlier from what you say - based on 24 issues per year, I make it 3 years 3 months earlier than the other titles (1994).

[Shaqui]

Hmm, if that's the case, someone at the BL needs a good slap in the face. Surely the folks at the British Library know when their collections stop. Debbie's libraries started at the same time as Mandy's, but ended 78 issues earlier from what you say - based on 24 issues per year, I make it 3 years 3 months earlier than the other titles (1994).

The British Library listings tend to be what they hold, not necessarily complete runs. Two well know instances are 'BEEB' magazine (the BBC's mid-1980s answer to 'Look-in'), where they only hold the first 13 issues, when in fact there were 20 in total, and 'Lady Penelope/Penelope', where they are missing the last issue (204), and they list the run as ending on issue 203.

It may be the case these issues were mislaid or never sent - it is/was after all the mandate of the publisher to send the British Library issues for archiving, not for the British Library to buy or subscribe to each and every publication! This is why so many small and independent publications are not held by them.



On a separate note, libraries like this were very big in the 1960s so it is no surprise (for those who have gone through various press trade magazines of the era ) that many may have started then.



Addenda - interestingly, the DC Thomson libraries have listings but the Fleetway ones ('Princess' for instance? Was 'Star' a Fleetway?) do not. I wonder is this is because DCT were more efficient at sending stuff but Fleetway/IPC were not? Or Fleetway didn't consider their libraries to be worth archiving?

[Phoenix]

Debbie's libraries started at the same time as Mandy's, but ended 78 issues earlier from what you say - based on 24 issues per year, I make it 3 years 3 months earlier than the other titles (1994).

I think it is important to stress that Thomsons' Picture Story Library For Girls titles were issued at the rate of one of each title per calendar month, not two as Digi seems to be suggesting. I do not have particularly long runs of these titles, and no final numbers of any, so I cannot help to identify final issues and dates but, for information purposes, I can state that the numbering on the last issues for 1979 was 200 for Bunty and for Judy, 22 for Mandy and for Debbie. I hope that moves the search forward a touch.

[Digifiend]

Thanks for that, Phoenix. I'd assumed they were released at the same rate as the Beano and Dandy libraries.

Shaqui, in this case the records say they have more than actually exists, so it is a definite mistake and not just the point at which their archive ends.

Now for some mathematics. 12 issues a year. 120 in ten years. That should make the final issue numbers for 1989, 320 for Bunty and Judy, 142 for Mandy and Debbie. Seven years later, 1996, would be 392 for Bunty and Judy, and 214 for Mandy and Debbie. If they did finish in 1997, it won't be more than 12 past those numbers. That doesn't make 275 and 453, the numbers shown in the records, so maybe it changed to 2 a month a few years before they ended? Helsbels, Debbie 197 was in 1994 wasn't it? Maybe when that one closed, a second Bunty library replaced it - that would explain it's higher count.

[helsbels]

I'm pretty certain that the picture libraries all had one copy per month issued. Debbie picture library finished first (I presume because the weekly Debbie comic had finished first some years earlier in 1983), then Judy finished next (sometime after the Mandy/Judy weekly comic merger) and Mandy and Bunty libraries finished at the same time (as these were the two weekly titles left). As for start dates, I don't know the exact start dates but I know that Debbie and Mandy libraries started at the same time (around 1979) and I assume that Bunty and Judy libraries started at the same time in the 1960s. I'll have a dig around my picture libray collections to look up years when they finished.

[Shaqui]

Shaqui, in this case the records say they have more than actually exists, so it is a definite mistake and not just the point at which their archive ends.

Ah, my apologies. That's what I get for postng after just getting up! I do know instances where a complete 'run' in BL listings does cover a merge with another title but in the case of a Picture Story Library that seems a little unlikely. Anyone in a position to go and look that particular item?

[Kashgar]

I've checked my own records for these and come up with the following
Both the Bunty and Judy Picture Story Libraries began in May 1963 while the Mandy and Debbie Libraries both first appeared in April 1978.
Debbie and Judy both then bit the dust at the same time in 1994 Debbie after 197 issues and Judy after 375 issues.
Up to this point all four of the libraries had been issued at the rate of one a month but then, once Debbie and Judy were discontinued, both Bunty and Mandy were published at the increased rate of two per month until they too were discontinued in 1997 Mandy after 277 issues and Bunty after 455 issues.

[Digifiend]

In that case, the British Library records can be explained as follows:
Bunty - they don't have the final month's issues.
Mandy - same, missing last two issues.
Debbie - their records are clearly incorrect, it shows 275, which is 78 too many.
Judy - records accurate, the BL has the last issue.

[Phoenix]

I think it appropriate, in the light of Kashgar's post, to note that helsbels was just about on the money in her original reply. She gave the correct final issue number for Debbie (197) and Mandy (277), for Bunty she was also correct, if uncertain enough to add ish (455 [ish]), and for Judy she merely transposed two digits (357 [ish] rather than the correct 375), a mistake anyone can make. I think we must commend her memory. Well done Helen.

[stevezodiac]

The Star Picture Library was a women's romance title so aimed at older readers. I have an advert for one in a My Weekly I think but cannot put my hands on it right now. its probably in the wardrobe right next to me as i type - its filled with stuff to put on ebay.