The BROONS Annuals.
Annual Dating: Although it is normal practice to date annuals by year for which they are intended to be read and not the year of publication (i.e. a Dandy Annual 2005 would have been published around October 2004), These books are dated by the year they were published. This is the dating method used by D.C. Thomson in The Broons and Oor Wullie 1936 - 1996 compilation so is assumed to be correct.
The First issue of The Broons was 17th November 1936.
The first annual in the series was published on
17 November 1939 (priced 1/6) with unlaminated wraparound covers made of a very lightweight soft card. The spine is plain yellow. It contained 128 pages.
A hardback copy is known to exist.
The internal title page of this book has Watkins' first printed signature ('Watty').
Very rare and very hard to find. Condition will affect value but expect to pay £3500 - £5500 to own this one.
The book was in an e-bay auction in December 2001. The bidding rose to £3,351.50 but failed to meet the reserve price. A buyer paid £5390 for a copy in a Compal Comics auction in September 2003.
All images © DC Thomson.
A story from The Sunday Post May 29 2011.
Help ma boab! It's the real Hen and Hazel reckons she's the true Bairn.
A Scottish pensioner living in New Zealand believes she and her father were the real-life inspiration for two of the Broons. Hazel findley (&&) believes Broons creator Dundley D. Watkins based his youngest character, the Bairn on her as a child.
She thinks the father R.B. Henderson who was a friend of Watkins, bore an uncanny resemblance to Hen Broon. (Hen short for Henderson) Hazel's family lived at 366 Strathmartine Road in Dundee-round the corner from Watkin's home and there's no doubt in Hazel's mind that her family were an inspiration.
"According to our family lore, Hen Broon was modelled on my father and I, being two years of age when the strip started, was the model for the Bairn", said Hazel.
I was born April 17th 1934 and photos showed me as a cute kid with a mop of blonde curls when I was about two.
"I don't recall any talk about me being the Bairn when I was a child but my mother told me when i became adult." "I have no doubt that my father is Hen. He was six foot two and slender." "Hen is a true cartoon of my father, or at least he was when Watkins was drawing him. It was just accepted in our home as fact of life."
