25 thoughts on “Bunty Picture Story Library”

1. Bunty Picture Story Library For Girls was a new initiative by D. C. Thomsons, and despite costing 1/- it was very successful, so much so that a Bunty Judy Bumper Library costing 20p was published in 1977, and devotees of Judy, Mandy and Debbie would get their own Libraries.

   The concept itself wasn’t new of course although earlier Libraries, such as those published by the Amalgamated Press, had tended to present their fiction in text form rather than in picture form. Those would include The Schoolgirls’ Own Library at 9d and rather earlier, Football And Sports Library at 4d. The standard length was 64 pages, which was clearly acceptable for Bunty. This latter series was predominantly for boys of course but perhaps surprisingly girls and women did feature as main characters in titles such as The Girl Who Made Good, Bess o’ Blacktown, and Hat-Trick Hilda. The size of all three Libraries was pretty similar, the length being about one and a half inches less than the width of a weekly issue of Bunty.

   Sensibly feeling their way into this new format, the first two titles featured Bunty’s two favourite ballet stars, Moira Kent in issue 1, and Lorna Drake in issue 2, but it wasn’t long before the company felt confident enough just to focus on the story, and therefore to introduce a whole host of new friends to their readers, a few of whom were to appear in serials in the weekly such as Dolwyn’s Dolls, the Four Marys, Trixie the Taxi Driver, the Kids from the Comp, and Luv, Lisa. Themes included school, science fiction, mystery, fantasy, highwaymen, horses, birds, nurses, gymnasts, ghosts, circuses, sailing, unusual pets. Something for every girl really.

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2. Hi Lorraine,
   When you have had a read through the above, please let me have your thoughts, especially if there is anything that you feel should be added, or indeed subtracted!
   Best regards,
   Derek

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   1. “and therefore to introduce a whole host of new friends to their readers, a few of whom were to appear in serials in the weekly such as Dolwyn’s Dolls, the Four Marys…” I would say the phrasing of that seems a little off, like its implying stories such as the four Mary’s appeared in the picture books before the weekly comic.

      I’m not very familiar with amalgamated press books so interesting to hear how it influenced DCT.

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3. OK. Sorry. I think if you change ‘a few of whom were to appear’ to ‘and a few who had already appeared in serials in the weekly such as’ I think that will better express what I wanted to say.

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4. Hello there,

   I’m trying to track down “Debbie’s Dolphin”, which I thought was serialised in Bunty, though I am struggling to locate it! Any ideas?

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5. Debbie’s Dolphin started in BUNTY 751 (June 3 1972), and ended either in 763 (August 26 1972) or in 764 (September 2 1972). It is in 762 but not in 765. Unfortunately I can’t check further for you, Rosa, as I don’t have issues 763 or 764 in my collection.

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6. You’ve listed a Grappling Gertie story in the Bunty annual of 1994. Was that a reprint or a brand new story? I thought I had all the Grappling Gertie stuff so this was a pleasant surprise.

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   1. I don’t have every episode of Grappling Gertie, but I think it was a new story for the annual. I don’t have the annual on hand, but I think it involved the girls looking after some royalty/VIP student, taking her to a match of Gertie’s, where she is kidnapped. There was another Gertie appearance in 1992 where Gertie is being blackmailed. Though I may be mixing the two stories up! Thinking about it there was a kidnap plot in one of the picture library books too, so either it was similar plot or i may be getting confused with all the stories!

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      1. Thank you for replying. I have “Grappling Gertie’s Schooldays” which does have a VIP student being kidnapped. There’s no reason they couldn’t use the same storyline again though. 🙂
         Either way, I plan to pick the 1994 annual up when I get chance so many thanks for the heads-up.

         (PS I have some pages from the 1992 story up on my blog if you’re intrested.)

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         1. I have no record of any serial in any of DCT’s story papers for girls, whose title contains the words Grappling Gertie.

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         2. That panel where “Gertie” flips the two students was clear in my head, but been a while since a read those stories, good to see!

            Derek just checking my own story lists, it must have just been annuals and picture story library that Grappling Gertie appeared, seems to be a few cases of that!

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            1. It seems strange that Gertie did not appear in a serial as well. The usual pattern is for a character to start with a serial and become so popular she moves on to appearances in annuals/picture libraries.

7. was there ever a bunty story called “big ben and little lena ” about a group of girls and their ponies having a competition and the winner won the riding stables all the girls had their own ponies and lena had a large cart horse .it will have been sometime in the 1970s

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   1. I haven’t come across this story, but I have seen one which might be a possible. Bunty Picture Story Library #193 is called “Betty’s Great Big Ben”, and although I haven’t read it, it seems to be about a girl who rides a carthorse. Here’s a picture of the cover.
      https://www.comics.org/issue/1130666/cover/4/
      Could this be the one?

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   2. “Big Ben and Little Lena” was a Bunty Serial instead of a Picture Story Library. It began in Bunty #970 (August 14, 1974) and ended in Bunty #980 (October 23, 1976). The owner of a riding stable dies in an accident and he wills his stable to one of the girls who attended riding lessons at his stables. The will states that there is to be a marathon pony trek around Brittain with the girl scoring the most points inheriting his stables. The will states that each girl must ride their own horse and as Lena has no pony, she rides her father’s work horse (Big Ben). She ends up winning the stables in the end although the other girls try to stop her from winning.

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      1. Bunty 970 is dated August 14, 1976, not 1974. I accidently typed in the wrong year and didn’t notice it.

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8. Has anyone got a copy or scan of Bunty PSL #324 “My Brilliant Friend”? Many thanks to anyone who can help.

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9. Has anyone got a scan or copy of “The Comp” Bunty PSL #348? Many thanks for any assistance.

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   1. I have this one. I’ll do a scan and send it to you – may be a couple of days or so, however.

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      1. Thank you so much!

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10. Can someone send me a copy of secret star from the bunty 1996?

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11. Does anyone remember the one about the London fire? I can’t remember the name of it! Thank you!

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    1. Hi, that’s a bit vague, do you mean a story around the Great Fire of London? Do you have any other details about story and when you would have been reading it?

       There is some stories around that period, a girl looking after orphans in the aftermath of the fire: https://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2019/07/annies-orphans-1967/

       There’s a short text story in Debbie where two children try to escape the fire: https://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/flames.jpeg

       There is also a story in an annual I can’t recall which one, where a girls’ brother who works at a bakery is responsible for the fire.

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       1. There was a Shop at Shudder Corner story in one of the Debbie annuals where the magic torch transports the girls to the Great Fire of London. Maybe that was the annual story you were thinking of?

          There is a Jinty story, “Bridey Below the Breadline”, where Bridey and her father are on the run after he is wrongly accused of starting the Great Fire. https://jintycomic.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/bridey-below-the-breadline-1976/

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12. Ah, the Shop at Shudder story on the Great Fire of London appears under the alternate title “London’s Burning!” in Debbie annual 1980.

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