The Broons jigsaw puzzle

Some time I  really must write a piece on vintage The Broons jigsaws that are out there for collectors, until then I'll just keep this as starter for 10...

This was lot 7 in the August 2024 Compal auction - the hammer price was £600. It was described thus...

The Broons Jig-Saw Puzzle original box cover artwork (1943) by Dudley Watkins. (Due to wartime paper shortages the jig-saw was produced by D.C. Thomson instead of the 1944 Broons annual). With photocopy of the original 'At Hame wi' the Broons' Living Room illustration for the box cover. Indian ink and watercolour on board 10 x 16 ins (2)

All other mentions of The Broons on the blog can be found here

All other mentions of Oor Wullie on the blog can be found here

All other mentions of Dudley D Watkins on the blog can be found here

All other mentions of DC Thomson on the blog can be found here

Treasure Island - Dudley D Watkins

I've looked before at a series of 'Told in pictures' books that Dudley D Watkins illustrated (here). One of the books was The story of treasure island

The story of treasure island

2 editions

First edition priced at 4/- and a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

And I just wanted to highlight lot 69 from the August 2024 Compal auction for this item...

it was described thus...

Treasure Island original artwork drawn and signed by Dudley Watkins for The Topper No 7 (1953) where Jim Hawkins uncovers Flint's treasure map - the pivotal part of R. L. Stephenson's story. First drawn by Watkins in black and white, Treasure Island was initially published in D.C. Thomson's The People's Journal in 1949. The illustrated story was then produced in book form for Thomson's Told in Pictures Book series in 1950. The artwork was then redrawn with extended panels by Watkins and coloured by him to fit the Topper format in 1958. It first appeared on the back cover of issue No 7 and was reprinted in Topper 476 in 1962. Dudley Watkins' fine draughtsmanship and eye for detail are fully displayed in this classic artwork page. Gouache and Indian ink on board, 24 x 18 ins. With Treasure Island Told in Pictures Book (2)

It was unsold (the estimate was £1,500 - £2,000)

vintage DC Thomson art up for sale soon

Collectors of original illustrations / cartoons /comic art will hopefully find an upcoming auction in Essex has something for them. Lots 125-160 in this sale on 1st October contains art by Dudley D Watkins, Charles Grigg, David Law, James McConnell, Mac, Jak, Larry, Gerald Scarfe and more. Here are just some of the highlights - good luck if you bid!

this lot - art by David Law

this lot - art by Dudley D Watkins

this lot - art by Dudley D Watkins

this lot - art by Charles Henry Chapman

the art of Dorothy Watkins

Inspired by this post on Peter Gray's Dudley D Watkins Facebook group (here)...

I thought I'd have a quick look on ebay and see if any other paintings by Dorothy Watkins came to light...

Here's one...Early Spring...

...and another...Scottish farmland...

Dandy and Beano club Burns night menu

A really lovely item up for sale at 2pm afternoon (here) via auctioneer's Compal. It's described thus

D C Thomson Dandy and Beano Club Burns Night Menus (1936-43) 1-8. All illustrated by Dudley Watkins. With The History of the Beano Book (2008) where pg 45 illustrates their origin. Specific staff notices were printed on the front of each menu: 'Refrain from Spitting / Boots and Dentures should be removed before putting casualties to bed / This hall is regularly disinfected with Jeyeses Fluid/Supper at 7.30, Ambulances at 11.45.' The 1941 main course was 'Nae Steak Pie (There's a war on)' followed by Verismelli cheese and Aspirins. Rare. Only one other menu set has ever come up for auction. Book with dustjacket [fn], Menus: 1938 [vg+], balance [fn/vfn] (9)

I've made the pictures extra large just so you can enjoy these wonderful pieces of ephemera in all their glory

boom! sells for £410 (plus fees)

UPDATED: Comics reference books of Ray Moore

My look at comic reference books has, to date, covered a number of authors such as...

Lofts & Adley is here

Alan Clark is here 

Dennis Gifford is here 

David Ashford is here

Martin Hamer is here

Colin Morgan is here

Steve Holland is here

Now it's the turn of Ray Moore...again there may be 'variant' editions out there of these books which I've excluded (for now) but I'd still be interested in seeing them. These exist because they've been (re)printed a few times over the years.

Update for this post - the 2nd volume of the Dandy index

The Dandy monster index 1937-1990 by Ray Moore

Here's a 'solo' volume 1 of the index

Here's the 'solo' volume 2 of the index (which only goes up to 1985, so that first image, above, since it goes up to 1990 means that it's a slightly updated version of the first two versions).

Topper tales by Ray Moore

The Beano diaries by Ray Moore

Info. on stories published up until the end of 1989. Saw a set on ebay that mentioned they were from an edition of 281 copies.

The Magic index by Ray Moore

The book of the Beezer by Ray Moore

Broons / Oor Wullie index by Ray Moore

image not to hand - can you help?

This was The Wizard by Derek Marsden and Ray Moore

The Dudley Watkins index of the Desperate Dan reprints 1969-83 by Ray Moore

The Buster index - Steve Holland & Ray Moore

Dudley D Watkins art for sale tomorrow

Just spotted this Desperate Dan artwork by Dudley D Watkins going under the hammer tomorrow (Monday 13th March 2023). 

At the time of typing just the one bid has been received (£240) - vs. an auctioneer's estimate of £400-£600

DC Thomson signatures & sketches

This is up for auction today - don't forget! And good luck if you bid...

An intriguing item is up for sale at the end of the month in Edinburgh...

The link to the auction can be found here

The items description is as follows...

Watkins, Dudley D. (1907-1969) Oor Wullie, original pen and ink sketch, 1940 showing Wullie on his bucket, saying 'I'm fed up again!', signed and dated lower right, on leaf of light blue paper (9.8 x 11.8cm), in an autograph album containing 12 additional sketches in various media (watercolour, pen and ink, or pencil), including: James Leuchars 'Jimmy' Crighton (1892-1962), 'Korky the Cat', signed 'J L Crighton', dated 1940, (pen and ink with bodycolour); three sketches possibly by George Ramsbottom (1903-1989), comprising a cowboy on a horse, a man on an elephant, and a vicar in a bowler hat with caption 'Seeing what an awful time I took to put something in your little book I feel that I really should draw something that is very, very good!', all signed 'G. R.' and dated 1940; David M. Ogilvie (?-?), Young boy with a shovel and fire bucket, dated 1940; and others including an anthropomorphic rabbit with caption 'Gee Norma, we've been trying for hours, but we just can't think of anything to draw in your book', signed Balch, 1951; and similar; many leaves loose (including 6 with sketches, but not the Oor Wullie) 

Note: An early original sketch of Oor Wullie dating from four years after the appearance of the first Oor Wullie comic strip in 1936, and the year before the first Oor Wullie annual in 1941. The album may have belonged to a young girl with a relative who worked at D. C. Thomson, as Jimmy Crighton, George Ramsbottom and David M. Ogilvie were also D. C. Thomson artists. Dudley Watkins only began signing his published work in 1946, 'a privilege afforded to only a few comic strip artists in those days (it also ensured his loyalty to Thomson following attempts by a rival publisher to lure him away from Dundeed)' (David Anderson, 'How Beano and Dandy Artist Dudley D. Watkins made Generations of Comic Fans Roar with Laughter', 25th June 2021, online). His other creations including Desperate Dan for the Dandy and Lord Snooty for the Beano.

As I type this 2 bids have been received and the price is currently at £190. A lovely item - good luck if you bid!

Boom! Hammer price is £500

DC Thomson signatures & sketches

An intriguing item is up for sale at the end of the month in Edinburgh...

The link to the auction can be found here

The items description is as follows...

Watkins, Dudley D. (1907-1969) Oor Wullie, original pen and ink sketch, 1940 showing Wullie on his bucket, saying 'I'm fed up again!', signed and dated lower right, on leaf of light blue paper (9.8 x 11.8cm), in an autograph album containing 12 additional sketches in various media (watercolour, pen and ink, or pencil), including: James Leuchars 'Jimmy' Crighton (1892-1962), 'Korky the Cat', signed 'J L Crighton', dated 1940, (pen and ink with bodycolour); three sketches possibly by George Ramsbottom (1903-1989), comprising a cowboy on a horse, a man on an elephant, and a vicar in a bowler hat with caption 'Seeing what an awful time I took to put something in your little book I feel that I really should draw something that is very, very good!', all signed 'G. R.' and dated 1940; David M. Ogilvie (?-?), Young boy with a shovel and fire bucket, dated 1940; and others including an anthropomorphic rabbit with caption 'Gee Norma, we've been trying for hours, but we just can't think of anything to draw in your book', signed Balch, 1951; and similar; many leaves loose (including 6 with sketches, but not the Oor Wullie) 

Note: An early original sketch of Oor Wullie dating from four years after the appearance of the first Oor Wullie comic strip in 1936, and the year before the first Oor Wullie annual in 1941. The album may have belonged to a young girl with a relative who worked at D. C. Thomson, as Jimmy Crighton, George Ramsbottom and David M. Ogilvie were also D. C. Thomson artists. Dudley Watkins only began signing his published work in 1946, 'a privilege afforded to only a few comic strip artists in those days (it also ensured his loyalty to Thomson following attempts by a rival publisher to lure him away from Dundeed)' (David Anderson, 'How Beano and Dandy Artist Dudley D. Watkins made Generations of Comic Fans Roar with Laughter', 25th June 2021, online). His other creations including Desperate Dan for the Dandy and Lord Snooty for the Beano.

As I type this 2 bids have been received and the price is currenty at £190. A lovely item - good luck if you bid!

UPDATED: Told in Pictures by Dudley D Watkins

The research on the 'Told in Pictures' stories (illustrated by Dudley D Watkins) is comprehensively told by friend of the blog Jeremy Briggs in Eagle Times autumn 2020 (volume 33, issue 3) - available via their blog here.

As well as researching the histories of the stories reprinted in these books Jeremy identified the differences between the first and second editions that exist. I've finally completed my collection of these books - previously I was missing a first edition Crusoe - but my collection is now complete so I'll update the notes below with some differences between the 2 different Crusoe volumes.

Robinson Crusoe

2 editions

First edition priced at 5/- and a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Note also the following differences...

a). in the first edition (red lion) the endpaper illustrations are green on a grey background; whereas in the second edition (grey lion) are black on a green background

1st edition

2nd edition

b). in the first edition (red lion) the front cover illustration of Crusoe you can't see a patch of bare (!) skin just above his pistol; whereas in the second edition (grey lion) the illustration is printed slightly better and the patch of skin is clearly visible. It's therefore also clear that in the first edition (red lion) that the skin has been hidden with some rather basic 'scribbles'.

The story of treasure island

2 editions

First edition priced at 4/- and a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

The story of Oliver Twist

2 editions

First edition priced at 4/- & a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page. Also the Dudley D Watkins signature is on the bottom left of the book cover...

...and the front endpapers are in a very light red (and are different to those in the 2nd edition)

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page. Note also the Dudley D Watkins signature in the bottom centre of the image below...

..and the front endpapers are in green and different from those in the first edition

The story of Kidnapped

2 editions

First edition priced at 4/- and a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Beano @ Somerset House; Dudley D Watkins

If you've not yet made it to the current exhibition at Somerset House, Beano: The art of breaking the rules, I thought I might try and tempt you with these examples of the original art that's on display...

Previously I looked at the Leo Baxendale art here

And here's the Dudley D Watkins art...