Vintage 1957 Rupert Bear Annual Daily Express Hardback Rare Flying Machine Cover
£53.65
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£53.65
Regular price
- Book Title: The Rupert Annual (1957 Edition)
- Publisher: Daily Express / London Express Newspaper Ltd
- Publication Year: 1957 (Genuine 1st UK Original Edition, NOT a modern facsimile reproduction)
- Format: Hardback / Hardcover Pictorial Glazed Boards
- Language: English
- Illustrator / Artist: Alfred Bestall
- Featured Core Stories: Includes the iconic debut adventure "Rupert and the Crackerjack" alongside the beloved "Rupert and the Pine Ogre"!
Item Condition:
- Overall Grade: Very Good Vintage Condition (VGC) – Exceptional collector-grade preservation for an item nearly 70 years old.
- Covers & Spine: Incredibly bright, vivid front and back cover laminates showcasing Alfred Bestall's famous flying machine artwork. The fragile paper-wrapped spine is 100% complete, fully legible, and solid with only light age-appropriate rubbing at the extreme top/bottom edges.
- Binding: The structural text block binding remains remarkably tight, firm, square, and completely unbroken. No loose, detached, or sagging page blocks.
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Papercraft Activity & Puzzle Jackpots:
- The Paper Glider is Intact: Pages 82–83 featuring the iconic, highly fragile "How to Make Rupert's Folded Paper Glider" template are completely unmade, uncut, unbent, and flat! (Usually sliced out by children in the 1950s).
- The Center Board Game is Uncut: The beautiful double-page center game "Save Nutwood Forest!" is fully intact and untouched.
- The Paper Clown is Pristine: Page 51 featuring the "Peeko the Clown" papercraft model is entirely uncut.
- Puzzle Pages are Clean: Expansive illustrated activity zones like "Rupert's Country Puzzle" and the "Funfair Puzzle" are entirely free from child pen tracking lines or circled answers.
- Colouring Contest & Rear Spreads: The entry form for "Rupert's Colouring Contest" partially coloued, clean, and unsubmitted. Internal pages are beautifully crisp with rich vintage colour and zero vintage paper foxing or heavy brown damp spotting.
About this Book:
A magnificent, museum-quality find for serious antiquarian British comic collectors. This 1957 annual captures Alfred Bestall's mid-century mastery at its zenith, packed with rich color panoramas, puzzle challenges, and classic folklore storytelling. Finding an original copy that has completely escaped the scissors, colouring pencils, and water brushes of its era is an exceptional rarity.