Rare Beano album sold for £2,700 at auction
- Published
The rare annual was published before the appearance of Dennis the Menace
A rare copy of the first Beano annual, published before the appearance of Dennis the Menace, has sold for £2,700 at auction.
The 1940 Beano Book was issued around the outbreak of the World War Two in 1939.
It came a year after the weekly comic was first brought out by Dundee-based DC Thomson in July 1938.
The annual had been expected to fetch between £1,200 and £1,500 at the auction at Keys in Aylsham, Norfolk.
It is the first of 79 Beano annuals published to date and features comic strips, stories and illustrations - but does not include mischief-maker Dennis the Menace, who made his first appearance in 1951.
His pet dog Gnasher was introduced in 1968.
The annual was published in 1939, a year after Dundee-based DC Thomson put out the first weekly comic.
The first edition does not include the Beano's most famous character, Dennis the Menace, as he did not make his first appearance until 1951.