Bunty Picture Story Library

Issue No.Title
1Moira Kent and the Disappearing Ballerinas
2The Girl in the Red Mask
3The Face in the Painting
4House of Secrets
5Name Unknown
6The Ice Princess
7Moira Kent and The Missing Star
8The Girl in Mystery Cottage
9Lorna Drake and the Stowaway’s Secret
10The Mystery of the Green Shoes
11Shadow of the Star
12Lorna Drake – Ballerina Behind Bars
13Little Miss Lonely
14Please Find My Father!
15The Truth About Ruth
16The Secret of Six Gables
17Patti Mason – Fashion Model
18The Slave of Tregarron
19Girls of Sundown Stables
20Snowbound School
21Scarecrow of the School
22Mystery Mountain
23Danger From Her Double
24The Secret of the Seventeen Steps
25She Walked by Night
26The Girl Who Knew too Much
27“Who Am I?”
28Dora and her Donkey
29She Danced into Danger
30A Medal for Madeleine
31The Runaway Dancer
32Stella and the Stowaway Prince
33That Brat Pat!
34The Spy at the Stage School
35The Secret of the Black Triangular
36The Fight for Freda’s Fairground
37Orphan Ballerina
38Teddy Bear’s Secret
39The Girl in the Tall Tower
40The Secret of the Doll’s House
41She Sang for her Supper!
42Stowaway Stella
43School for Strangers
44Wendy and the Seven Songsters
45The Girl in the Bell Tower
46The Topsy Trail
47The Red Door
48The Mystery of Monks Island
49Kathy at Coldmoor
50Imposter at the Ballet School
51The Secret of the Nocturne
52The Stranger on Storm Island
53Wild Girl of the Moors
54The Secret Ballet
55Film Star for a Fortnight
56Girls of Stagecoach City
57Sal of Sandheath Stables
58The Jinx on Jarrods
59Betty the Ballet Menace
60The Boomerang Bells
61Moira Kent and the Silent One
62Flora of the Forest
63Hilary of Hamilton Abbey
64Secret from the Sky
65Debbie and her Dogs
66The Flying Fentons
67The Village of Hate
68Terrible Tillie
69Spinning Jenny
70The Outcast of Oakvale
71Curtain Up for Clara
72No One Knows Nina
73Lost- One School!
74The Girl in the Tower
75The King’s Caravan
76Maid of Music
77Princess Pop
78Martians at the Manor
79Even Clowns Can Cry
80House of Hate
81The Crimson Crest
82Sew Sew Jo
83The Nameless Ones
84Jenny Guitar
85No Place to Play
86Maid of Magic
87The Splendid Seven
88The Bolas Lass
89Challenge of the Peaks
90Stella’s “Stage” Coach
91Village of the Blind
92The Angry Island
93Queen of the Buskers
94Beth of the Outback
95Molly’s Mop-Up Brigade
96They Shall Have Music…
97The Chosen One
98Dance for Your Daddy!
99The Pipes of Panji
100The Hee-Haw Hero
101They All Want Lucy’s Locket!
102The Girl with Green Fingers
103Dora the Dope
104Slaves of Happy Valley
105No One Wants Nina
106Debbie’s Ugly Duckling
107The Clip-Clop Clarks
108Hilda in the House of Secrets
109Crazy Academy
110Dinah in the Dark
111Lily of Lonely Island
112Penny of Pennycoat Lane
113The Girl from Up There
114Joker’s of St. Jude’s
115Hetty’s Hee-Haw Holiday
116Sally’s Sailing School
117Meg All-Alone
118Horoscopes Rule at Dingley School
119Their Queen is a Panda!
120The Stone She Fears
121They all Hate Hannah!
122Jeanie and her Genie
123Sandra’s Slave
124No Badge for Madge
125Puppets in Peril
126Katy Cope the King’s Last Hope
127Penny Whister’s Band
128Gwenda’s Goat
129Kitty on the Run
130Find the Thursday Girls!
131Mona on Mystery Moor
132Two-Faced Freda
133The Fabulous Fletchers
134Clowns Don’t Cry!
135The Secret Cyclist
136The Runaway Cookery Queen
137Hand’s Off Our Bell!
138Granny Get Your Gun!
139The Amazing Misty
140Beware the Black Cat!
141The Terror of St. Trudes
142The Trail of the Sunset Girl
143Danger Girl
144Ghostly Gloria
145Lisa’s Lion
146They all Hate Hetty!
147Dance into Danger!
148No Mirrors for Morna!
149The Austins Must Go!
150The Secret of Room 7
151Where No Voice Sings!
152Runaway Ballet Dancer
153The Mystery of the Blue Windmill
154The Milkfloat Marathon
155A Clean Sweep for Clara
156Girl From Space
157Ghost Rider of Gull Grange
158The Lady and the Scamp
159Mystery at High Hollow
160Midge & Madge: they’re hopeless apart
161The Cat on the Trail of the Flying German Bomb
162Island of Tears
163Eyes for Brother Billy
164Terror on Black Rock
165Guardian of the Silver Stallion
166Penny Ballerinas
167Castaway Class
168The Mystery of Gloom Glade
169The Mystic Medallion
170Maid of the Mountain
171Polly from the Past
172Fiona in Fashion
173The Four Marys
174Mystery at Creepy Creek
175The Star Stealer
176Little Champion
177The Rival Castaways
178Ruth on the Run
179Sandy of the Silver Reins
180Queen of the Tree People
181Prisoner of the Purple Ray
182“Wish you Were Here!”
183No Love for Lisa
184House of Secrets
185The Traitor’s Daughter
186Wings on her Wheels
187The Sea Scamps
188Lonely Lucy
189Nora of the North
190Shirley and her Shadow
191The Ice Princesses
192The Phantom of the Saddle
193Betty’s Great Big Ben
194Patti Morgan-Fashion Model Afloat
195The Bell Must Ring
196Patsy and the Little People
197Born to Fly
198Susie and Sandie- Action Twins
199Carole – the Clownmaker
200Kay King Ship’s Nurse
201A Pigeon called Peg
202Jill-Junior Reporter
203Trixie’s Taxi
204Forbidden to Ride
205The Sail Riders
206And Baby Went Too!
207Rena of the Rose Bowl
208The Girl’s of Pet Place
209She Wants to be Expelled
210The Helping Hands of Heather
211The Taming of Tanya
212Singalong Sue
213The Courage of Blind Belinda
214Loser Lou
215Zoo Girl Zoe
216The Only Girl at St. Hilda’s
217Her Mother is a Star
218Slave for a Week
219Personality Penny
220Heartbreak Stables
221Big Sister
222Sue and the Smiling Dolls
223The Bravest of Them All
224No Welcome for Nurse Carson
225“I’ll Never be Captain Now”
226Eskimo Ella
227The On-the-Dot Dales
228Wendy and the Water Horse
229Us and the V.I.P (very important pig)
230The Dragon Next Door
231A Piano for Marjory
232Gwen’s Little Gallopers
233A Dog’s Life for Donna
234Anything Hugh Can Do…I Can Do Better
235Fay of the Footlights
236The Secret of Her Sister’s Doll
237“I Must Find My Mum”
238Three on the Tiger Run
239Dorcas and the Dark Lady
240“I’ll Make You a Winner”
241Tall Storey
242Tina the Tester
243Ride into Danger
244Galloping Gran
245Hetty at the Helm
246Dolwyn's Dolls
247Lonely Lynn
248Dee and the Dog Star
249Push Button Academy
250Fearless Flo- stunt girl
251The Witch Waggon
252No Place Like Home
253Super Sue
254Paula and the Lion and the Chimp!
255Roller Girl
256Dana the Time-Master’s Daughter
257Hilary’s Highwayman
258Forgotten Fay
259The Secret of the Gipsy Doll
260Catch the Wind
261Galloping Gran Again
262My Model Sister!
263The Chosen One
264The Return of Big Sister
265The Sailor Doll
266Rachel’s Runaways
267Gymnast Jackie
268Chris Carson Assistant Nurse
269Lazy Daisy and the Livewire Ghost
270Fran’s Secret Friend
271The Dances of Donna Dean
272Hope’s Huskies
273Jena and the Giant Beetle
274Bushgirl Beth
275The Girl at the Window
276Dolly’s Dolphin
277Water, Water Everywhere!
278Joy of the Gym
279“I Won’t Share with Shirley”
280Dancing for Diane
281She Lived to Tell a Tale
282Her Downstairs Friend
283The Strange Changes in Jenny Jones
284Dennis the Pony Menace
285Amazing Sammy
286Katie Bright Keeping Mum Right!
287Ollie the Ostrich
288No Medals for Margie
289Stand-In Sister
290Secret Gymnast
291Four Against the School
292Slaves of the Teasets
293Captain Shirley
294Super Budgie
295The Silver Scorpians
296The Kidnapped Castaways
297Footlights of Fear
298Flo’s Chippy
299The All-Star Spooks
300Becky and the Beachbike
301The Perfect Girl
302Ollie Ole
303The Return of Dennis the Pony Menace
304Stagecoach Stella
305Wendy’s Wonder Window
306“Run Nippers Run”
307The Time Leapers
308Out of Her Class
309The Purple Fan
310Travels of a Tree-House
311Saving the Pennys
312The New Girl’s Secret
313Pretty Plain Jane
314The Secret of Madge’s Mutt
315Rosie’s Rainbow
316Becky and the Beachbike
317Tess Tempest
318The Diary
319The Seeker
320Ollie the Ostrich
321Clare of Witch Hill
322The Curse on St.Elmos
323The Pest from the Past
324My Brilliant Friend
325Miss Sunbeams
326Vive La Comp
327A Heart as Cold as Ice
328The Five Marys
329The Real Rachel
330Trouble at Tree Tops
331Bonnie and Claude
332Dream Dancer
333Robina Hood
334The Seekers
335Rita’s Robots
336It’s In the Book!
337Molly the Matron
338The Comp
339Brassribs
340Bonnie and Claude
341Cinderella Jones
342Backstreet Hospital
343Codey
344The Girl With The Golden Smile
345The Four Marys- Sabotage at St. Elmos
346Bonnie and Claude
347Help...
348The Comp
349Diana the Dresser
350The Magic Wood
351Kathy’s Clean Up
352Grappling Gertie’s School-Days
353Framed!
354The Black book
355Angel
356My Cousin From Oz
357The Witch’s Return
358School’s Out
359Doctor Fido
360Just the Job!
361The Four Marys at Sea
362Nancy’s Paper
363Invisible Isla
364Dear Pen Pal…
365The Secret Servant - a Four Marys story
366She Wants to be Expelled
367School on Skis
3683 Great Stories
369Wedding Belles
370Lonely Lynn
371New Kids at the Comp
372The Four Marys in Four Great Stories!
373“That’s My Pony”
374Luv, Lisa
375All In a Day’s Work
376Happy Holidays
377Return of the Seeker
3783 Great Stories about Dolwyn's Dolls
379The Girl in the Mirror
380Fay of the Footlights
381The Four Mary’s- Break Up
382The Eyes of Belinda Blair
383Looking Out for Jodie
384School for One
385White Fire
386“My Mother’s a Star”
387Bring on the Clowns!
388Ski Into Danger!
389Simply Perfect!
390Rachel’s Runaways
391The Four Marys-Boy, Oh Boy!
392My Model Sister
393School of Shadows
394The Chosen One
395Pets On Parade!
396Sam
397Friends For Ever!
398A Class Apart!
399Luv, Lisa
400Rosie at Thorndale Hall
401Part-time Pupil!
402“I’ll Find My Mum”
403Hope Street
404Born to Dance
405Animal Nurse!
406“Hands Off Our Club!”
407The Four Marys
408The New Girl
409T for Trouble!
410Phantom in the Saddle
411The Comp
412She’s the Best!
413Lady Lizzie!
414Sylvie Must Skate!
415Hunted!
416It’s All Go With  Jo!
417Wild Ones
418Trapped!
419“My Cousin Carla”
420She’s Guilty!
421Friends
422“I Won’t Share!”
423The Bracelet
424Born to Teach
425Eve All Alone
426Star’s Story
427The Summer Fête
428Unfair to Favourites
429Nowhere to Run
430The Cat
431The Painting
432Polly of Pickpocket Row
433Haunted!
434Penny Ballerinas
435Mystery in Manor Park
436The Wild One
437Mirror Image
438Slaves of the Teasets
439Silent Illness - a Four Marys story
440Trixie of 2097
441Trouble Brewing
442She Lived to Tell a Tale!
443Amy All-Alone
444Stella’s Step into Time
445Girls On Film!
446Captain Shirley
447Model Pupil
448The Kidnapped Castaways
449Double Trouble
450Footlights of Fear
451Janie in the Jungle!
452Her Downstairs Friend
453Terri On Tour
454Reunion at St. Elmo’s
455California Dreaming

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.

  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

    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.

  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.

  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?

  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.

  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.

    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!

      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.)

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

        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!

          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

    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?

    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.

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

    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.

  9. 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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