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Billy Bunter's Own (Annual).

Billy Bunter's Own appeared for the first time in 1953 and was last published in 1961. The annuals contained a number of short stories, all original and mostly by Hamilton.

The first three annuals were published by Mandeville and had distinctive yellow dust jackets. Oxonhoath published the remainder with picture board covers and no dust jackets.

You can find full details in the publications section of  The Greyfriars Index

Contents list kindly supplied by Dr Nandu Thalange. Front cover scans from The Greyfriars Index

Many of the stories were later reprinted in compilation annuals. You can find a list here.

All the books are now available for download via the links below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links

 

Jack Free in the Billy Bunter's Own Annual

One of the characters featured in Billy Bunter's Own was that of Jack Free, AKA Jack Nobody. Hamilton wrote 8 books but only 3 were published in Hamilton's lifetime. The other 5 manuscripts gathered dust for almost 60 years before efforts were made to have them published. With the permission of Hamilton's great niece the Friars club set out to publish the books to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Charles Hamilton. Sadly the manuscript for the fourth book is missing, feared destroyed.

You can read an article by Derek Adley on Jack Free from the 1990 CDA here.

Three short Jack Free stories appeared in the Billy Bunter's Own Annual. Jack Free stories also appeared in Tom Merry's Own


Rio Kid in the Billy Bunter's Own Annual

Only one Rio Kid story appeared in Billy Bunter's Own, you can read it or download it by clicking the links in the table below.

The Rio Kid also made an appearance in the Popular, Ranger, Modern Boy, Boys Friend Library, Billy Bunter's Own and Tom Merry's Own.


  Title Story Notes
Billy Bunter's Own 1953

Contents
Billy Bunter's Christmas Box [Greyfriars]
Billy Bunter's Letter Home [Greyfriars]
Treasure of Temooka [Ken King]
The Ghost of Rookwood [Rookwood]
Slackers of High Coombe [High Coombe]
Foes of the Forest [Popolaki Patrol]
Bunter Minor's Birthday Cake [Greyfriars]
Published by Mandeville September 1953.
Illustrated by C. H. Chapman.
Billy Bunter's Own 1954

Contents
The Right Thing [Greyfriars]
What Happened to Snooks? [Rhyme]
Six for Sammy [Greyfriars]
Jack and Jill [Jack Free]
The Fathead of Felgate [Felgate]
Shanghai-ed [Ken King]
Bessie Bunter's Big Idea [Cliff House]
Published by Mandeville in September 1954.
Illustrated by C. H. Chapman.
Billy Bunter's Own 1955

Contents
Wibley to the Rescue [Greyfriars]
Bessie Bunter's Big Bang [Cliff House]
A Near Thing for Bundle [Dolcot]
Good Old Skip! [Felgate]
Too good to be True!
Bobolobo's Leap! [Popolaki Patrol]
A Spread for Sammy! [Greyfriars]
Published by Mandeville in September 1955.
Illustrated by C. H. Chapman.

No annual was published in 1956. On page 320 of Collectors Digest Issue 120 Herbert Leckenby describes how he paid a visit to the premises of Mandeville Publications and found their offices closed.

Len Cooper reviewed all the BBO articles published in the Collectors Digest and found that the issue generally assumed to have been published in 1956 was actually published in 1961. You can find details on page 32 of Collector's Digest Issue 178
 

Billy Bunter's Own 1957

Contents
The Disappearance of Billy Bunter [Greyfriars]
Billy Bunter's Boundary [Greyfriars]
Fireworks at Felgate [Felgate]
Just Like Bessie Bunter [Cliff House]
Published by Oxonhoath in September 1957.
Illustrated by C. H. Chapman.
Billy Bunter's Own 1958

Contents
Who Wants Bunter? [Greyfriars]
French Leave! [Greyfriars]
The Greyfriars Ventriloquist [Greyfriars]
The Deep End [Greyfriars]
Billy Bunter Owns Up! [Greyfriars]
Lucky for Lovell [Rookwood]
Something for Sammy! [Greyfriars]
Published by Oxonhoath in September 1958.
Illustrated by C. H. Chapman.
Billy Bunter's Own 1959

Contents
Was it Bunter? [Greyfriars]
Bunter Turns the Key [Greyfriars]
Circus Luck [Jack Free]
Lovell knows best [Rookwood]
Awful for Aubrey [High Coombe]
Just Skip [Felgate]
Sammy's Snowball [Greyfriars]
Bessie Bunter in Luck [Cliff House]
Published by Oxonhoath in September 1959.
Illustrated by C. H. Chapman.
Billy Bunter's Own 1960

Contents
Coker's Christmas Pudding [Greyfriars]
Hard Lines [Greyfriars]
At the Eleventh Hour [Popolaki Patrol]
Skip's Stratagem [Felgate]
Compton's Catch [High Coombe]
The Rio Kid Horns In [Rio Kid]
Published by Oxonhoath in September 1960.
Illustrated by C. H. Chapman.
Billy Bunter's Own 1961

Contents
Brainy Bunter [Greyfriars]
Both Bunters and a Box [Greyfriars]
Home for the Hols! [Greyfriars]
A Rookwood Rag [Rookwood]
One Good Turn [Jack Free]
Surprise for Sammy [Greyfriars]
Unexpected [Felgate]
Published by Oxonhoath in September 1961.
Illustrated by C. H. Chapman.