mammybearsbooks Blog Rupert-II 20210307

Rupert the Bear made his first appearance in the Daily Express newspaper on the 8th of November 1920, as a comic strip. He was created by Mary Tourtel, a British artist, and was originally a brown bear.

In 1935, the stories were taken up by Alfred Bestall, who incidently, worked on Rupert stories well into his nineties! Every year since 1936 there has been a Rupert annual published . Other illustrators are Alex Cubie, John Harrold and Stuart Trotter.

We all know Rupert is a Polar bear, but he is always depicted as a brown bear on the annual front cover. A mark of respect, no doubt, to the originator Mary Tourtel. Ofcourse, we all know of the faux pas of the editor pertaining to the 1973 edition, where Rupert appears as a white bear on the front cover, quite a famous story in the Rupert world...look out for one of the only ten brown bears :)

Timeless tales are told every year, full of magic, dragons and adventures galore. So join Rupert and his pals Bill Badger, Edward Trunk and Algy Pug on a Nutwood discovery by purchasing one of the 84 annuals published to date. See a selection of very good copies at www.mammybearsbooks.com