THE STORY JPAJPER JANUARY, 195 3 COLILJECTOR No. 49 :: Vol. 2 Q11 111 1u111 1111111111111 11111111111111t 11111111111 11 1111 1111111 1n111 11111111111 11 11 11111 1111 111011111t111111 11111 1111 Q ..Drummed Out of Qreyfrlara!" A� ..... �0-..... T.... .....__.Uflt..•M Grand Christmas Comic Supp�ement. The Magnet, Fifth Christmas Issue, No. 253, December 14, 1912 space. There may be more of EDITOR'S CHAT� them in future issues. HAT indefatiguable collec­ IN HIS article on The Nelson tor of Vancouver, B.C., Lee Library in S.P.C. No. 48 (page T Peard Sutherland, has real­ 306) Joseph Meechan is made to ized one of his collecting refer to the girls' school located ambitions: a complete set of near Sc. Frank's as Moor House Chums Annual volumes-all 48 instead of Moor View. Any of them! Does anyone else blame for this error may be share this disiindion with him? directed, not to Mr. Meechan, (Peard completed his set of but to the compositor/proof­ Chums in February but record reader, who is better acquainted of it can be made in this January with Cliff House School than issue because it's away behind he is with Moor View. schedule.) He also has what Atso IN his article on The may be a unique run of The Nelson Lee Library referr�d co in Scout: Volumes 1 to 17; plus an the preceding paragraph Mr. additional five volumes. Peard's Meechan expressed the opinion collection of Boy's Own Annual that some of the Sc. Frank's volumes is, he says, steadily stories in the first series were growing: he now has 26 of ·rather" far-fetched," citing as an them; while his G. A. Henry example Edwy Searles Brooks cities now number 78. Not grow­ having a 15-year-old boy batting ing quite so fast are his sets of in a cricket Test match. Fad, The Gem and The Magnet: about however, has a way of catching 600 of the former, 350 of the up on fiction. After reading the latter. article Syd Smyth, of Clovelly. �Tms was the heading of the N.S.W., wrote us about a 16- �ditor's page of Young Britain in year-old lad, Bob Simpson, play­ 1919. ing in the N.S.W. State Cricket THE PASSING of Henry Steele Team, and a 17-year-old, Ian on February 13th, 1952, wa.s re­ Craig, 'l"ho is in the Test team. corded in The Collectors' Digesc Ian Craig scored 53 in his first some time ago, but we pause test and Bob Simpson 69 in the here to pay our respects to his State game. ln addition Craig memory. Mr. Steele's "Notes by top scored in the second innings a Reader" in our pages (actually with 47, and is chosen in the gleanings from his letters to us) Test team for England. Neither have been a popular feature of lad is so very much older than S.P.C. which would have ap­ Mr. Brooks' young cricketer. peared oftener but for lack of -W.H.G. 308 ESTABLISHED IN 1941 The Story Paper Collector Arcicles of Interest to Collectors of British Boys' Periodicals of the Past No.49-Vol.2 JANUARY, 1953 Priceless THE ROOKWOOD STORIES IN THE SCHOOLBOYS' OWN LIBRARY By ROGER M. JENKINS OOKWOOD has always re­ to the fact that it was created ceived the least attention after St. Jim's and Greyfrian. R of the three main Hamil­ Though it had no famous char­ ton schools for a variety acters, it nevertheless had the of reasons: the �tories ran in most finely delineated ones of The Boys' Friend for only eleven all, as Charles Hamilton agrees. years, compared with the careers And though it never had a paper of The Magnet and The Gem, co itself, it certainly was the which were nearly three times backbone of The Boys' Friend, as as long; there was no really is evidenced by the collapse of famous character at Rookwood that paper the year after the like Billy Bunter or Arthur cessation of the Rookwood Au&ustus D'Arcy; but, above stories. Furthermore, the short­ all, Rookwood never had a paper ness of the tales themselves was co itself-it had to be content in a way a considerable ad­ with two or three pages in The vantage, for they required no &rys' Friend. abridgement or abbreviation at Despite these seeming disad­ all when they came to be re­ vantages, ·however, Rookwood printed in The Schoolboys' Own was in a �ay the most polished Ubrary. creation to come from the pen When The Schoolboys' Own of Charles Hamilton, due mainly Ubrary commenced publication 310 THE STORY PAPER COLLECTOR in 1925, the editors had ob· Jack Fisher as a name for the viously not then planned any hero. Charles Hamilton, who has systematic reprinting of school such a sensitive feeling for appro· stories from the very beginning priace names, at once disagreed. -they merely seized upon what It is impossible not to concur they considered the most inter­ with him in feeling that Jimmy esting talcs which had been pub­ Silver could never have gone lished in the various papers not through life as Jack Fisher. As a le" than about three years name, Jimmy Silver is evocative earlier. Thus it came about that of that cheery good-natured the very early issues contain a junior who is Tom Merry plus number of very fine tales. A something extra-the qualities llf case in point is No. 20, entitled tolerance and understanding. "The Vanished Schoolboys," Jimmy Silver's arrival at Rook­ which describes how the Fiscical wood was reprinted in No. 118 Four mysteriously disappeared of The Schoolboys' Own LibraT)' from the school, one aft<r an­ entitled "Jimmy Joins Up." In other. It is not difficult to spot that volume is related how he Captain Langton, the games at once made his mark in the coach, as the villain of the piece, school, and won the friendship but the interest of the story lies of the Fistical Three. The story in the dramatic turn of events, was carried on some while later which are described with a vivid­ in No. 128-"Backing Up Jim· ness which may come as a my"-which deals wirh the man­ surprise to anyone who imagined ner in which Adolphus Smythe, that all the Rookwood stories the junior captain, was taught were written in a lighter vein. not to fill the cricketing team Equally dramatic, though not with his own "nutty" friends. so exciting, is No. 35 - "The How Jimmy eventually became Shadow of Shame"-which re· junior captain (after Tommy !ates how Bulkeley was obliged Dodd had succeeded Adolphus to leave Rookwood temporarily Smythe) is a story which unfor­ after his father had been ar­ tunately does not appear to have rested for embezzlement. been reprinted in this series. FTERA FEW years, the very The characters of Raby and A first Rookwood stories Newcome may at first glance were reprinted. In this con­ appear to be somewhat colour­ nexion it is interesting to note less, mainly because the other chat when the Rookwood series two members of the quartet was moored, the editor suggested overshadow them to an extent TM Schoolboys' Own Library No. 48, March 31, 1927 Sec overlca f] [ Facine pace 3IO THE COLONIAL CO.? Referrin11. to che cicle of chis issue of The Schoolboys' Own Library during an interview by Roger Jenkins, Charles Hamilcon staced chat it wru certainly correct when he wrore the story, buc he had a suspicion chat it might not be so well received these days! ROOKWOOD STORIES IN THE S. 0. LIBRARY 311 much greater, for instance, than sulk a little now and again and Harry Wharton and Bob Cherry mistake it for righteousness. Un­ overshadow the other members like Harry Wharton, the charac­ of the Famous Five. But a closer ter of Lovell was worked out inspection, however, will reveal in a humorous vein, and he that still waters run deep. Raby shares with Tubby Muffin the is the quieter of the two, a responsibility for most of the plump-faced junior with an un· humour at Rookwood. One of expected streak of stubbornness the mosr characteristic stories which shewed itself in No. 341 about him is related in No. 347.­ of The Schoolboys' Own Libraty "Chums on the Open Road"­ entitled "On Fighting Terms." in which he persuaded the Raby was-quite unjustly-ac­ others to club together to buy a cused of cowardice by Lovell motor scooter for the holidays and Newcome, and his pride which he then proceeded to was such that he did not deign monupolhe to their entire to explain the matter. Even after exclusion. the facts came co light, there Apart from their long sojourn was a rift in the lute for some in Canada, which occupied no weeks, so greatly did George less than four issues of The Raby object to having his cour­ Schoolbo:ts' Own Library in 1931, age doubted. Arthur Newcome the Rookwood juniors seemed is slightly more to the fore than to spend most of their holidays Raby; he is not blunt at all in in England. The holiday with his approach- on the contrary, the cart pulled by Trotsky the he possesses the gift for delight­ pony (so called because of his ful quiet sarcasm that makes aversion to work) was one of him the perfect foil for Lovell. the most charming tales, and ITHOUT doubt, Arthur Ed­ well merited its reprinting in W ward Lovell is the most No.