Old childrens annuals and motorcar books - Page 2

Here is a second page showing some great old childrens annuals and books (continued from Childrens Books & Annuals Page 1), all of which feature interesting artwork on their covers. Some are inscribed with messages, usually from family relatives to a child at Christmas, and this helps date many of these old childrens books. If you have a similar collection of childrens books, I'd be interested to see some pics.

In all there are five pages in this section, featuring car-related artwork on children's books. This is Page 2.
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5

Thrilling Stories for Boys.
A slightly faded cover has protected the artwork printed on the book itself. Published by The Childrens Press, this book goes for a motorcycle with sidecar. This is undated, but I suppose must be 1930s judging by the style of typeface used in the book itself. The cover illustration is signed - bit tricky to make it out but is D. Eyles.

Our Boys' Tip Top
This annual has survived very well, and was published by Renwick of Otley, 89 Fleet Street, London. Undated as with so many childrens book, but I'd guess late 1930s if the style of the car shown is anything to go by.

The Great Book of Motors.
Condition of the spine isn't marvellous on this small chunky hardback book. Illustration is by R. Wenban, and is written by G.G. Jackson. Printed 1931, so a great old survivor. The cars on the cover look like they are racing around the banking at Brooklands racing circuit. The back cover is missing, but this is still a nice old book to have.

Stirring Boys' Stories
Another pitstop scene, as with some of the childrens books on Page 1. There is neither date nor inscription, but it must be 1930s judging by the MG racing car shown here in the pits. Amongst all the exciting stories is The Carlo Cup Motor Race, a tale of the trackway by Thomas J. Willis.

Whiteley's Schoolboys' Story Book.
This is a large storybook, and shows a Mercedes-esque racer passing a red machine. Authors of the stories were Tom Bevan, Robert Leighton, Sydney Horler and T.C. Bridges. The colour artwork within this book is excellent, artists including D.C. Eyles (again), G. Fitzgerald, T. Cuneo, Swales, Caney and G. Fitzgerald.

Every Boy's Hobby Annual 1933
For once dating this rare book is done for me. A dashing gent is seen zooming by in his blower Bentley, being waved on by a smartly dressed youth who is presumably fixing his old flat-tank motorcycle. This lovely book has a photo in the 2nd page of young lads holding an array of tinplate powered racing cars aloft, with a very young Donald Campbell stood beneath holding a toy of a record breaking car. The book is full of interesting projects for the 1930s youth to attempt, and is illustrated with sepia photographs thoughout.

Popular Book for Boys.
The cover artwork on this book is not dissimilar to that of the Whiteleys' book further up this page. The book was given as a gift to a child Christmas 1936 and was published by Dean & Son, of Ludgate Hill in London. Several stories feature, including 'The Speed Kings' by G. Gibbard Jackson, an author who has already featured with his own book on these pages. For a change this story was motorcycle rather than car racing.

Ideal Book for Boys
Another Dean issue, this one dating to the 1950s. The spine has suffered on this particular example, so I'll keep an eye out for a better example. No motor racing stories are in this book despite the cover art, which shows a red (Italian?) Grand Prix car being hounded by a yellow (Belgian?) racer.

Tiger Annual 1958.
Another book that has seen plenty of little fingers all over it, and has suffered as a result. This 1950s annual shows a Lancia/Ferrari D50 being chased down by a yellow racer and someone driving a red Ferrari or Maserati on opposite-lock. No clues as to who did this cover art. Several motor-related stories feature - "Driver of the Old-Time Speedster" by Ivor Melbourne, "Hush Hush Racer in the Sidecar Grand Prix" by Tom Berkeley, and a nice cartoon-strip colour story called "The Flyaway Racer" by Terry Tames.

Monster Book for Boys
This book was given to a child in 1930, and is one of the older books I have. The cover (front and rear) shows streamlined racing cars competing on a beach, the kind of thing that took place at Southport in the 1920s. The artist was J. Abby and he must have used landspeed record cars of the day as inspiration for these cars. The rear covers shows the Golden Arrow. This chunky book was an early example of childrens annual from Dean & Son.

Tiger Annual 1958.
More artwork from T.E. North shows an opposite-lock Alfa Romeo 158/159 being chased by a red Ferrari. This book was given as a gift in 1952 to a young child, published by Ward, Lock & Co. The Golden reference I suspect relates to the Coronation. Several other colour plates appear in the book, as do a good number of black & white photographs.

Every Boys Annual
The annual shown here dates to the mid 1950s and features a dashing racing driver, with his car being worked on in the background. There are no car stories as such, but there is an article on professional dare-devil and stunt drivers.

Collins Boys' Annual.
This is one of my favourites, still surviving with its original dust jacket. Artwork again by T.E. North, a name that crops up a few times in this section. No four-wheel motoring tales are here, but there is "Streamlined Special" which is a story about racing a motorcycle on the Isle of Man TT.

Famous Racing-Cars
A Jolly Miller production, this thin hardback book shows a determined Stirling Moss clipping the apex in his Aston Martin DB3S registration 9046 H at the 1956 Goodwood Trophy race. The book actually dates from the mid 1960s, as it features re-coloured images of cars such as Formula 2 Lola, BRM V16 & V8, W154 Mercedes Benz, V12 Ferrari, C-Type Jaguar (210RW), Cooper single seater plus a few other cars.

Teddy Tail's Annual.
A nice easy one to date this time - 1936. The cover shows a pair of motor-cars and aeroplanes zooming by, illustrated by Foxwell. This was published by Collins on behalf of the Daily Mail, and features various adventure stories, mainly non-car related.

Tufty Gets a Motor-Car
A handwritten note dates this book to 1947. The story goes that Tufty saves up and buys himself a shiny new motor-car. He takes his pals out for a spin and a picnic, but sadly crashes into a tree and they're left to push the destroyed remains back home. No happy ending with this storybook!!

Picture Book of Road Travel.
This hardback children's book, published by Dean & Son, was given as a gift in 1965. The cover features a twin-steer coach (Bedford VAL perhaps?) and a bullnose Morris, dicing on a dual carriageway. The book is illustrated in colour throughout - rarest vehicle is the Ford Gas Turbine experimental truck.

Toot Toot!
The cover features a vintage touring car, and dates this book to the 1920s. B/W and colour drawings can be found inside, the first illustration shows the chauffeur topping up the tourer's fuel tank via a filler set into the car's dashboard, directly over a young girl's lap.

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