HISTORY:
A few more books from my personal dim, dark past!
Here is the setting ....
It's New Zealand in the mid 1960's, I was a young lad at the this time and play was all about using your own imagination. No spoon fed videos via computers or smartphones, in fact television was a rarity as well, and if your family could afford a television "set" then it was Black & White, or you could make it "colour" by sticking a strip of coloured cellophane across the front of the screen!
Imagine my excitment when receiving books such as this Annual ... these Annual's transport the reader into another world, a world of excitement, adventures and wonders! This was a period when a strong focus was on the military and war time stories because the Second World War was still very fresh in the mind of English (and by default, NZ) society.
So, this isn't "just" an old book! It is a window into the past which allows the reader to experience what just about any young boy was craving for ... knowledge about the "big wide world' - particularly anything British.
I had a number of these and other similar publications but some didn't make it through the years and others have found new "carers" so that these slices of youth related history can be preserved.
This Annual was published in 1958 ... now down to the details
NOTE: These following description is from a 'layman's' point of view, I do not collect or trade in books - I am describing this book as I see it now
EAGLE ANNUAL - Number 8 (1958)
British through and through
Published by Hulton Press Ltd, London
Printed by Eric Bemrose Ltd, Liverpool
Hard Cover
Cloth bound
173 pages
Primarily monochrome print and graphics but there are some coloured "plates"
First thing that hits the eyes when opening the book is the wonderful racing car industry artwork which was created by Pat Nevin. Mr Nevin was a reknown British artist who specialised in producing art featuring scenes from British motorsport. There is another two page artwork of his at the inside rear of the book also.
So, when opening this book you can imagine the visual excitment to a boy ... the adventures had begun!
Next is a page which is intended for the use of the owner to write their name - I never did, so this section is blank.
Next is the all important CONTENTS (see one of the photographs) which offered a wide range of stories, comic strips, sport related activities (for example, how to paddle your own canoe! Not that I ever had one of those) hobbies and even engineering (many special interest articles such as the (then) modern radio phones, who was using them and in broad terms, how they worked. The article (as with many in this Annual) has a leaning towards the use of this engineering by the Allied Forces, after all, the war was still very fresh in everyone's minds. Another project I remember building from this book was the periscope so I could look over the fence at the neighbouring kid without being seen by him and throw "clods" at his "fort" in the backyard! Maybe it's a NZ term but clods are just lumps of dirt, sort of like throwing 'soft rocks" which explode when they hit something.
I won't go into more detail about the contents, that would spoil it for you!
The coloured plates are "old style" print technology but still vibrant. One of these is a depiction of the first Mars rocket with quite strange comments that "if unmanned, it could carry a nuclear warhead" ?!?! I guess the war mentality was all pervasive as was the nuking of two cities in Japan by the Americans just 13 years previously but I do not understand why humans would want to explore Mars but at the same time have the intentional of blowing it up! Perhaps Mars was considered a "foreign object" that should be removed at all costs ... just imagine if humans sent an exploratory spacecraft outside of our solar system in 2024 but the craft was fitted with nuclear weapons "just in case the aliens had any bad ideas", it just seems so bizzare. But perhaps they (the Americans) already do this! Americans are not exactly peace loving people.
Other coloured sections are the cartoon strip "Jack O'Lantern" and of course, that hero Dan Dare (Pilot of the future)!
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
Clean
NO musty smells!
Good (in my opinion) overall
If I was asked to grade this Annual out of 10, 1 being "in shocking condition with pages falling out or missing" and 10 being pristine, never been read ... I would give this book a 7/10
Obvious, normal handling wear n' tear signs such as rubbing to the edges of the front and rear covers and some slight page folds but nothing too dramatic.
The condition of the paper surprised me, I have seen far worse than this in the past. No bad foxing I believe it is called (where the paper can react with the atmosphere and slowly go Brown over time) it seems the quality of paper used is pretty good.
I have carefully checked the page count and there are NO missing pages!
The spine is a little loose but not falling apart, the pages being securely held in place.
I hope the above helps explain just what this Annual is all about and what a special meaning these held for young lads in those days.
Now that I have carefully looked through the book and taken a few photographs, it has now been placed in a sealed clear plastic package awaiting a new owner who appreciates such things
