Albert Tatlock

It is not all that sophisticated........... stamped = SOR, unstamped not SOR. this would apply only to the early days, though, until T & P could see that they were in danger of underestimating the demand for Marvels, so upped the order numbers. The newsagent did not decide which titles he would receive, he would just order, say 200 comics, and T & P would forward that number from the stock in their warehouse. It would have been time-consuming in the extreme and not at all cost-effective, to respond to a request from Mr Hartley by rummaging through thousands of comics in search of a particular issue that may or may not have been there. Chances are, that by 1973, they were all, stamped or not, fully SOR, so 'whats the problem, squire?. Here they are, sell 'em in your shop to the snotty nosed kids, anything left over, send 'em back'.

Marvels were distributed in the US by the same firm responsible for distributing DCs, but on this side of the pond, T& P did the distribution, as stated in the indicia.

Mentioned in the article is the case of a South Shields newsagent who had 20,000 comics seized and destroyed. Presumably not Beano or Dandy, more than likely imported American horror-type comics. Mention is there of a publication, the Newsagents and Booksellers Review, which may well give us information of value.. Who will undertake a trip to Colindale to peruse early 1950s copies?

More on George Pumphrey can be found here: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lupBCb1lcokC&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=george+pumphrey&source=bl&ots=hmDniXnKC5&sig=ACfU3U1qlXU2M7m44aHixYapuvY9uqCifQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwih8Kb_jbfsAhWRTxUIHXIjD8EQ6AEwCXoECAgQAg#v=onepage&q=george pumphrey&f=false

Possibly by that time all were SOR, it just seems strange that the Marvels were UKPV almost from the off, but DCs were stamped.

My understanding is that some comics were imported after the end of WW2, but the passage of the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act of 1955 put a stop to them. The infamous Fredric Wertham had an equally misguided British counterpart, George Pumphrey, who lost no opportunity to fulminate against the degrading American imports leading the youth of this country on a path to inevitable damnation.

The difference would be not between DC/Marvel/Charton, but between stamped and unstamped. stamped = SOR, unstamped = non-SOR.

Back cover of Amazing, with T & P credit at bottom.

October 1953 magazine distributed by T & P, the earliest I have found so far, but printed in England and with no stamp. Mr Thorpe and Mr Porter are certainly men of mystery. Even Mr Google is struggling. Companies House no help, as their public records do not go back far enough. I have checked for trademarks for Thorpe & Porter, T & P and Strato Publications as far back as 1876, but nothing is showing. Earliest stamp will probably be in the 1958/59 range, I feel but will carry on hunting.

Here is a thought - what if the early Marvels were not SOR? If no returns would be entertained, no need to stamp expiry dates. That could explain why the early imported Marvels are so scarce compared to DC. If T & P had to pay more for the Marvels, printed to their own specifications with a pence cover price, than they did for the remaindered DCs, they would order less, and also need to make sure that the increased per item outlay was offset by guarantee that retailers could not return them. Only DC, Charlton, etc would be eligible for a credit. That would also explain why the Marvels, fewer in number as they were, lingered on the newsstands for longer that the DCs, which were freshened up periodically by the removal of out of date material. Later, as T & P realised they were onto a winner with Marvels, they would be willing to accept returns, and at that point began to stamp them. When are the earliest stamped Marvels?

Operator could make an occasional mistake, but if he or she were instructed to stamp ALL of a stack of items, that would mean that a shelf life indicator was intended.

But the earliest number 1 would presumably not be on a comic at all, but on another type of periodical. When did T & P begin importing US magazines?

Or 1 groat from Regency publications.

Simple. It will have the earliest date on the cover or inside. Any farthing versions from Victorian times, I wonder?

Which intrepid explorer will track down the earliest T & P stamp. It will obviously be a number 1.

Ditto Dirk and the Legion. Printed 1 shilling, stamped 1/-. Number is to indicate end of shelf life.

The reprint, I mean. It is printed 2/6, and they have stamped it 2/6. The comics and magazine cover dates would not necessarily have been in sync, so the retailer would use the stamp number to tell when an item was close to getting out of date, irrespective of cover date. Same applies to US copies - all the time we see arrival dates added by retailer. These also indicate when to pull that item. And we also know that they are unsold US copies, because the dates are in the US (month followed by year) format, not the UK one.

But it has a 2/6 stamp on a 2/6 cover. Why stamp an already priced book? Surely a shelf life indicator to retailer.

T & P number stamp system already up and running for August 1959 imports.

Reckon you owe me half a mild in t'Rovers.

Almost certainly, as the October 1959 issues are stamped with 6 or 7. T & P would not have initiated a new numbering system just for comic books. More than likely they just slotted the newly arrived US additions to their roster into a pre-existing arrangement.

Thank you, Marwood, I did notice at the time that the numbers on the price stamp were creeping up month by month, but I had no idea what lay behind it. What we need, in order to set this on a firmer footing, is a long unbroken run of stamped pence copies, in a monthly title which was not in short supply and with a regular distribution pattern. Best candidates would be Action, Adventure or Detective. Many of mine are unstamped, from when I upgraded them long ago, but, when time permits. I will sort through and document what I can. From what I remember, the newsagents' deliveries were monthly, but that does not mean that the shipments were tied to any fixed date, that would have been at the mercy of the sailing dates available. The numbers 1 to 9 were unconnected with the calendar or the date of printing. They relate only, I believe, to the order in which they were processed on arrival at Castle T & P. That only 9 numbers are used could have an explanation as prosaic as a 1 digit stamp being cheaper than a 2 digit stamp.

All quiet on the T & P front? Can I creep out of my shell hole yet?

I reckon that the pre-October 1959 dated items arrived much later than their cover dates, being well out of date unsold US returns. Another example is the Private Strong issues, dated mid 1959 but in all probability not shipped until T & P's operation was up and running. I would say that the War At Sea arrived at the same time as the Feb 1960 DC shipment, the Timmy with the November 1959 and the Bunny with the Oct 1959 and again with the March 1960. Have a look at some Charltons (my holdings are very scanty) cover dated AFTER the end of 1959 and see if they conform to the DC pattern.