Hello everyone! This is my first entry in my new blog. Having had a blog dedicated to vintage postcards for a while now, I decided it was time to branch out and share some of my other vintage interests, particularly (but not exclusively) vintage magazines and vintage books. For my first post I thought I'd feature some paperback books from the great 1960's and 1970's cult TV programmes, The Avengers and The New Avengers.
I'll start with The Avengers as this show was, and probably still is, one of my favourite 1960's TV shows. I wasn't old enough to remember the originals with Cathy Steel, Emma Peel and Tara King, but thanks to regular TV re-showings I think I've seen pretty much all of them now.
I'm also fascinated by what's often referred to as Avengerland, which is basically the area covering the locations of much of the filming. It's on my list of places to visit - just need to find the time.
The Avengers, The Magnetic Man, c.1968 (front cover)
Curiously the front cover seems to feature both Tara King and Emma Peel. As far as I recall they were only in one episode together which was when Emma left and Tara entered, and it wasn't this episode.
The Avengers, The Magnetic Man, c.1968 (back cover)
This is alas my only Avengers paperback, and quite late in the series, but I do have several New Avengers ones which of course feature Joanna Lumley. Although I prefer The Avengers to the The New Avengers, the latter will always have a fond place in my memory as they were my first exposure to the world of John Steed.
The New Avengers - House of Cards, by Peter Cave, c.1976
House of Cards was the first New Avengers paperback and for some reason I have two copies, so if anyone has a copy of number 2 (The Eagle's Nest) or number 4 (Fighting Men) they'd like to trade, please get in touch. I've only just noticed that only Steed and Purdey appear on the cover.
The New Avengers - To Catch a Rat, by Walter Harris, c.1976
This was the 3rd paperback released, this time with Gambit also featuring on the cover.
The Cybernauts - A New Avengers novel by Peter Cave, c.1977
This was the 5th paperback to be released. This was of course not the first time the Avengers came across the Cybernauts, as they made an appearance in the one of the Emma Peel episodes. This book is actually called The Last of the Cybernauts, but I guess that was perhaps a bit lengthy to show on the cover.
So, I'll finish the first entry of my new blog here. Would love to know what you think so please feel free to leave a comment. I'll be back with further updates over the course of the next few weeks, probably covering The Man From Uncle, The Saint, U.F.O and others. I'll also be sharing some of my vintage motor magazines and vintage photogtaphy magazines which are interesting just for the adverts alone.
More vintage books and magazines and also vintage postcards can be found on my web site
great post! good to see patsy back when she was purdey! ;-)
ReplyDeleteNice site! Looking forward to your U.N.C.L.E. post, as I was a big fan of all the spy shows as a kid, and broke into the creative writing field in 1987 with Entertainment Publishing's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. comic book series. I also have the first (only?) book based on Christopher George's The Immortal series, and am wondering if you have that.
ReplyDeleteSilver Fox - I've never heard of The Immortal before but it looks like something that would be right up my street from what I've read on the internet.
ReplyDeleteWill try and get an U.N.C.L.E. post up over the weekend.