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Fred
Basset has been "running" non-stop since he first appeared in London's
Daily Mail on 8th July 1963, even though his creator, Alex Graham, died
in 1991. Graham, who owned a basset hound named Freida, published 8,757
Freds before he died. In addition, he left behind an 18-month supply
of his comic strip. When that expired, the Daily Mail and other newspapers
around the world began publishing original strips, drawn by an artist
appointed and supervised by the Graham family. The new strips were continued
in Graham's style with artwork by Michael Martin and Graham's daughter,
Arran Keith, continuing the family link.
I am unsure when the books first appeared as the first 31 books issued are undated (no copyright dates at all). Nos 32 and 33 are both copyrighted as 1981. However, Book 12 was dual priced at 3/- and 15 new pence which puts that copy around 1969 when decimal currency was introduced in the UK. This means, that like other comic strip books of the time, more than one per year must have been issued. From No 34 onwards there was one per year, but they dropped the numbering for the 1994 issue onwards. Unusually the books were still issued one per year but the year they were for was the same as the year they were issued, unlike other 'annuals' which was for the year following. Fred Basset books are still being published today. There were some additional books issued during the run, one in 1988 titled "Fred Basset 25 Years", and another issued in 1989 titled "Fred Basset Bumper Book 2" The Bumper Book 1 being the '25 years' one. Below is a Gallery of UK Fred Basset Books in order. |
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No
1
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No
2
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No
3
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No
4
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No
5
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No
6
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No
7
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No
8
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No
9
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No
10
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No
11
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No
12
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No
13
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No
14
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No
15
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No
16
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No
17
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No
18
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No
19
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No
20
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No
21
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|
No
22
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No
23
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No
24
 |
|
No
25
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No
26
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No
27
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No
28
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No
29
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No
30
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|
No
31
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No
32 (1981)
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No
33 (1981)
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No
34 (1982)
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No
35 (1983)
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No
36 (1984)
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No
37 (1985)
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No
38 (1986)
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No
39 (1987)
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No
40 (1988)
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25
Years (1988)
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No
41 (1989)
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Bumper
Book 2 (1989)
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No
42 (1990)
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No
43 (1991)
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No
44 (1992)
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No
45 (1993)
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1994
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|
1995
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1996
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1997
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|
1998
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1999
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2000
 |
|
2001
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2002
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2003
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2004
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2005
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2006
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2007
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In 2005 Orion Books published this hardback book celebrating more than 40 years of Fred Basset.
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2005
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As far as I know, only one book of Fred Basset was produced in the US by Fawcett
in 1969.
Whether this was intended as a pilot which failed or there were in fact later
books is
unknown to me. If anyone has further information and/or images, please email
me.
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1969
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Australia
Fred
Basset Books in Australia were produced by Beaumont Books from 1979 to 1984
and
Capricorn Books (1 issue) in 1985.
64-Page
Books...
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1979
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1980
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1981
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1982
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1983
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1984
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1985
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192-Page
Books...
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1984
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Other Countries
Germany
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This
book was issued in Germany. The title translates as "The
Dog, Which Millions Love "
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* Click HERE for the Altavista Babel Fish Translation Service