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A bit of an odd one this.
Entitled "Matchbox, Corgi and Dinky Toys: UK Press Adverts 1968 -1972, it is a 64 page A4 publication with full-colour, wrap-round card covers (suggesting something professional), yet it contains no author, publisher, or ISBN information whatsoever (which I thought was illegal). The contents are a nostalgia trip for anyone who was reading any of the Fleetway comics in the late 60s and early 70s, being reproductions of the adverts run by Lesney, Corgi, and Dinky in such titles as (my personal favourite) Valiant, Victor, and Buster. In some cases,the adverts have not reproduced particularly well and, as a consequence, have reduced legibility ,but they do have the great advantage of being dated to the actual day of publication. Having said that, it would have been better had they been reproduced in chronological order and perhaps even split by manufacturer.
If you can find a copy (and goodness knows how), buy it, because this is an assemblage of information you will most definitely not find anywhere else (and it's great fun!)..

Hi Hugh,

According to some information I added to my library listings the author is Sam R Giles and published in 2006.
I had made a note that Christian F knew some details about this publication and these are filed under my references along with Model railway magazines and Meccano etc that I still have from 1960 onwards for some publications and many of these contain adverts relating to the three main brands and others.
I am not sure if at some point Christian posted some adverts, something I will have to check. So when Christian reads your post he may be able to add some info.

Bert

interesting.

I have many many original Matchbox adverts and would like to see this book if any-one has a copy for sale.

marcel

matchboxmarcel wrote:interesting.

I have many many original Matchbox adverts and would like to see this book if any-one has a copy for sale.

marcel

I have quite a large library and regularly go hunting specific publications. In my experience, anything with a card cover is very difficult to find, simply because when libraries are sold (e.g. as the result of a bereavement), anything which is not a 'proper book' tends to be regarded as ephemeral and is therefore treated as waste paper/recycling. Things are made especially difficult in this case owing to the lack of both an author's name and an ISBN, either of which could otherwise have been used for Internet search purposes.

Idris you say that the book looks professional but thinking back there used to be a stationary shop called "Staples " our local one was large and had a department that would copy and put together a book or dissertation ( university town) or a office presentation pre the digital age just a thought!.

This is a very strange one. After seeing this thread I decided I really should include it in my digest of Matchbox books, so I set about trying to research more about it.

Sadly, apart from the picture referenced above that was posted to hobbydb.com by Chris Falkensteiner, I have come up a blank. Nothing on Google for the book title or the author and nothing on the many second-hand book sites I use.

From the image it is unclear if this is a ‘real’ published book, or a self published collection, but from the description that is A4 in size, the latter seems likely.

I’d love to learn more, so if anyone has any clues, it would be great to hear them.

Martin, like you, I was unable to find any more information on this publication.
When you open it up, both the inside front and back covers are copies of advertisements. There is no title page, no copyrights date, no publishers details, and no ISBN. it is simply solid reproduction adverts from cover to cover.