British Boy’s Annual
Here is a checklist for The British Boy’s Annual, which was published from 1910 to 1933, a total of 24 books. From 1910 to 1926, it was published by Cassell, and from 1927 it was published by Amalgamated Press. If you look at second-hand book sites like Abebooks or eBay, you’ll find a great deal of confusing descriptions of these books, with many of them appearing undated and simply described as “the first story is …” or “the cover shows …”. This is mainly because the annuals were only explicitly dated on the dust jacket, spine or title page between 1910 and 1920. Annuals issued between 1919 and 1926 have a printer’s code at the bottom of the final page, apart from 1920.
Although the annuals were published every year between 1910 and 1933, there is a gap in the “title date,” the year that the book was claimed to be for. The “British Boy’s Annual for 1910” was published in 1910, and so on up to and including 1914. However, that made each book seem out of date only a week after the child had unwrapped it on Christmas Day, so the annual published in 1915 was the “British Boy’s Annual for 1916.”
There is a corresponding “British Girl’s Annual.”
Notes on the table below:
- Dust jackets are shown where I’ve seen them. For the other annuals, particularly for the first five years, I have no idea whether they were issued in dust jackets. Some of the later annuals are illustrated with mocked-up jackets. For these, newspaper adverts showed which internal picture was used for the jacket.
- For annuals without visible dates, I’ve consulted newspaper reviews, endpaper inscriptions and the competition dates on the editor’s pages. There may still be mistakes.
Thanks to Adam Teitke for the jacket images for the annuals published in 1920 and 1922. The 1922 cover has an oval window cut in the paper cover to reveal the image on the cloth cover beneath. Thanks to John Pearson for the cover and contents of the 1916 Annual.
1910
(Pub. 1910)
First: “The Fly in the Web” by Ralph Simmonds / Long: “For Life or Death” by Olaf Baker
1911
(Pub. 1911)
First: “Pat and His Whaler” by Fleet-Surgeon T. T. Jeans / Long: “Not Guilty” by Olaf Baker
1912
(Pub. 1912)
First: “The Derelict of the Air” by Ralph Simmonds / Long: “A Substitute for Smith” by Ralph Simmonds
1913
(Pub. 1913)
First: “The Sea Patrol” by Ralph Simmonds / Long: “And A. N. Other” by Ralph Simmonds
1914
(Pub. 1914)
First: “The Night Air-Mail” by Claude Grahame-White and Harry Harper / Long: “Shoulder to Shoulder” by Ralph Simmonds
1916
(Pub. 1915)
First: “The Air Raiders” by Claude Grahame-White and Harry Harper / Long: “Scholarship and Cup” by Harold Dorning
1917
(Pub. 1916)
First: “The Romance of Modern Exploration” by Sir Harry H. Johnston / Long: “A Hussar of Napoleon’s” by D. H. Parry
1918
(Pub. 1917)
First: “The Romance of Empire Building” by Sir Harry H. Johnston / Long: “The Secret Society of the Map” by Captain Charles Gilson
1919
(Pub. 1918)
First: “Wonderful Inventions of War” by Frederick A. Talbot / Long: “The Queen’s Champion” by S. Walkey
1920
(Pub. 1919)
First: “The Whirlpool’s Grip” by H. Mortimer Batten / Long: “Kidnapped in the Reign of Terror” by S. Walkey
1921
(Pub. 1920)
First: “Photography in the Tree Tops” by Captain C. W. R. Knight / Long: “Mr. Greatheart of the ‘Phantom Brig’” by Frank H. Shaw
1922
(Pub. 1921)
First: “Nothing Like a Hero” by Gunby Hadath / Long: ditto
1923
(Pub. 1922)
First: “Antarctic Adventures” by Capt. E. R. G. R. Evans / Long: “Into the Golden West” by Frank H. Shaw
1924
(Pub. 1923)
First: “The Great Age of Mammals” by Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G. / Long: “The Heritage of Robin Hood” by Eric Wood
1925
(Pub. 1924)
First: “Shooting Wild Beasts with a Camera” by Major A. Radclyffe Dugmore / Long: “White Man’s Fashion” by Captain Frank H. Shaw
1926
(Pub. 1925)
First: “A Life of Adventure” by Ernest Smith / Long: “Outlaws of the Air” by Grenville Hammerton
1927
(Pub. 1926)
First: “Wonders of Modern Aircraft” by Clarence Winchester / Long: “King of the Speedway” by John Hunter
1928
(Pub. 1927)
First: “Wonder Zoos” by H. J. Shepstone / Long: “On the Wings of the Wind” by Colin Stuart
1929
(Pub. 1928)
First: “One Back on Buttercup” by R. A. H. Goodyear / Long: “The Mountains of the Moon” by Rowland Walker
1930
(Pub. 1929)
First: “The Spectre Ship of the Atlantic” by George E. Hopcroft / Long: “Up to Scratch” by A. Harcourt Burrage
1931
(Pub. 1930)
First: “The Air Bandit” by Judson P. Philips / Long: “The Secret of the Valley that Roared” by Frances Cowan
1932
(Pub. 1931)
First: “Thanks to the Pup!” by John Brearley / Long: “The Disappearing Gun-Runner” by Percy F. Westerman
1933
(Pub. 1932)
First: “Spanish Gold” by W. H. Morris / Long: “Sleuths of the Air” by Percy Westerman
1934
(Pub. 1933)
First: “The Hold-Up on the Heath” by Percy F. Westerman / Long: “Caribou Ranch” by Rowland Walker