I love collecting the more ephemeral comic related publications (sometimes free gifts, sometimes official merchandise) but their flimsy nature means they don't often survive in great numbers.
Courtesy of ace seller 'phil-comics' here's a rare chance to see inside such a publication...in this case "The Topper picture book" - this was published in February 1955 (it says in Ray Moore's Topper index, Topper tales) and consisted of material that had appeared in Topper in 1953.
I also love finding these when possible (and when the bidding doesn't threaten my mortgage), partly because they're also a huge indicator of what kids would happily accept as a gift back in the day. Most kids mags today (I hesitate to call them comics) would rather attract the kids with cheap plastic toys with a play value of about five minutes but this is genuinely "improving" stuff. So many free gifts in those days were about discovering the world, whether pop culture (TV Comic albums), nature (this), space (various Eagle booklets), history/royalty (numerous albums with collectable cards) technology/aviation (just recently got Ranger #1 complete with its booklet on the BOAC VC 10), etc.
ReplyDeleteDifferent times, different times ...