Books
Twenty-one Beau Peep books have been published in the UK -- Books 1 to 20, plus the un-numbered 'Colour Collection'.
The first two books were issued in a carded covered 10 1/2" x 8 1/2" magazine format with all the strips in black and white. Books 3 to 9 were 8 1/2" x 6" landscape books in black and white, but with some colour pages.
From Book 10 they became the new 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" square shape in 1989 (in line with most other newspaper cartoon strip anthologies of around that time), again mostly black and white with some colour pages (although the Beau Peep Colour Collection was entirely in, er, colour).
The latest addition to the series, published in 2012, was the "Return of Beau Peep", consisting entirely of black and white strips, in an 8 1/2" x 7" format.
The Books:
Book 1 was published by Express Newspapers Ltd in 1980. ISBN: 0850791049. RRP: 65p
On our Forum in December 2008, Roger commented on an Ebay listing:
Book 2 was published by Express Newspapers Ltd in 1981. ISBN: 085079112X. RRP: 70p
Roger commented about Books 1 and 2:
The subsequent annuals carried a mixture of black and white and colour strips, but unlike Books 1 & 2, unfortunately are not the complete run of strips as originally published in the Daily Star.
Book 3 was published by Express Books in 1982.
ISBN: 0850791251. RRP: £1.00
Book 4 was published by Express Books in 1983.
ISBN: 0850791294. RRP: £1.00
Book 5 was published by Express Books in 1984.
ISBN: 0850791413. RRP: £1.25
Book 6 was published by Express Books in 1984.
ISBN: 0850791480. RRP: £1.50
Book 7 was published by Express Books in 1985.
ISBN: 0850791652. RRP: £1.65
Book 7's foreword ('by' Beau Peep himself) reads:
Welcome to Book Seven.
Seven years -- sigh! Remember those days? Petrol was three farthings a gallon, cigarettes were tuppence a thousand and Britain used to occasionally win things at sport. My Doris was a petite size 24 and Dennis hit an intellectual peak with a brain-cell count of eleven.
And what of my two chroniclers, artist Andrew Christine and writer Roger Kettle?
Well, Andrew was a still-active 83 and Roger could still eat his meals without a straw. Anyway, enough nostalgia -- I hope you enjoy this latest collection.
Love, Beau Peep.
P.S. Hands up who said "I've been given a book of his every year for seven years, but I don't remember breaking a mirror."?
Book 8 was published by Express Books in 1987.
ISBN: 0850791715. RRP: £1.75
The Beau Peep Colour Collection was published by Express Newspapers PLC in 1987.
ISBN: 0850791766. RRP: £2.95
Book 9 was published by Express Books in 1988.
ISBN: 0850791820. RRP: £1.95
Book 10 was published by Express Newspapers PLC in 1989.
ISBN: 0850791901. RRP: £2.50
Book 11 was published by Express Newspapers Ltd in 1990.
ISBN: 0850792088. RRP: £2.50
Book 12 was published by Express Newspapers Ltd in 1991.
ISBN: 0850792347. RRP: £2.95
Book 13 was published by Annual Concepts Ltd in 1992.
ISBN: 1874507023. RRP: £3.50
Book 13's foreword reads:
Beau Peep Book 13 is a good excuse to use the word 'Triskaidekaphobia' -- the fear of the number thirteen. It's also a good excuse to list the phobias of all the characters in this book.
Beau Peep: 'Bellaphobia' -- the fear of closing time.
Dennis: 'Dumbophobia' -- the fear of brain cells.
Egon the cook: 'Starchaphobia' -- the fear of clean aprons.
Mad Pierre: 'Boppaphobia' -- the fear of missing a punch-up.
The Nomad: 'Gritaphobia' -- the fear of sand in your Y-fronts.
Honest Abdul: 'Mugaphobia' -- the fear of under-charging.
Hamish: 'Helpmabobaphobia' -- the fear of Dundee United losing to Arbroath.
Book 14 was published by Pedigree Books in 1993.
ISBN: 1874507120. RRP: £3.95
Book 14's foreword reads:
Inside this book, you will find this cartoon strip plus another 270 odd. That works out at roughly 810 individual frames, a similar amount of speech-balloons and more than five and a half thousand words. Talk about value for money, and we haven't even mentioned all the commas!
Book 15 was published by Pedigree Books in 1994.
ISBN: 1874507287. RRP: £3.99
Book 15's foreword reads:
What or who is Beau Peep?
Beau Peep is a comic strip.
According to the dictionary, 'comic' means 'pertaining to comedy' or 'an amusing person: an actor of droll parts'.
Also according to the dictionary, 'strip' means to 'pull off: to make bare: to undress'.
Therefore Beau Peep is 'to undress an actor of droll parts'.
Book 16 was published by Pedigree Books in 1995.
ISBN: 187450752X. RRP: £4.95
Book 16's foreword reads:
This is the 16th Beau Peep book. It all began some 16 years ago, with book 1. Then came 2,3,4,5 and 6. There was talk of bringing out book 8 next but, in the end, it was decided that book 7 should hit the streets first. Then came 8. After a lengthy debate about what the title should be, book 9 was published, followed by 10,11,12,13 and 14. Last year's book amazed a lot of people by being titled No.15. So here we are at the 16th Beau Peep book. Goodness knows what next years' will be called.
Book 17 was published by Pedigree Books in 1996.
ISBN: 187450766X. RRP: £4.99
Book 17's foreword reads:
17 years ago it all began rather imaginatively with Book 1. Hardly surprising then we decided to call this year's collection the 17th Beau Pep Book. Place your bets here on next year's title.
Book 18 was published by Pedigree Books in 1997.
ISBN: 1874507910. RRP: £5.99
Book 18's foreword reads:
Beau Peep Book No.18. The coming of age.
Beau Peep books are now allowed to drink in pubs, to vote and to watch videos. These are, of course, three things which should not be attempted in one day. On one spectacular occasion, the Beau Peep creators did just that and following an afternoon spent shuffling between the pub and the video shop, they ended up voting...for Pamela Anderson.
Shown above is the mysterious 'alternative version' of Book 18, with Dennis on the cover. This is a 'printer’s proof' but a few copies were accidentally released to book shops. These are incredibly rare and are worth over £3,000 each. Unfortunately, as previous online auctions will testify, the value drops to about only a fiver if the copy has been signed by the writer and artist.
Book 19 was published by Pedigree Books in 1998.
ISBN: 1874507686. RRP: £6.99
Book 19's foreword reads:
Welcome to the 19th Beau Peep Annual.
To those readers who have bought all 19 books....may you live forever in undisturbed bliss.
To those readers who have bought 12 to 18 books...may you have a long and happy life.
To those readers who have bought 6 to 11 books...may you fulfil your ambitions.
To those readers who have bought 1 to 5 books...may you have good life and get 3 numbers on the lottery every so often.
To those readers who have never bought a single book and only ever borrow one if they've nothing else to read...may your bottoms erupt with pimples.
Book 20 -- 'The Return of Beau Peep' was published by Beau Peep Publications in 2012.
ISBN: 1463693281. RRP: £6.99
The Book's foreword reads:
Beau Peep has been running since 1978 and, after taking off our socks and shoes, we've worked out that this comes to 33 years, or one third of a century. And we're both still 28 years of age. Remarkable. Hope you enjoy this latest collection of strips. Roger Kettle and Andrew Christine.
'The Return of Beau Peep' was 'self-published' by Roger and Andrew, using a print-on-demand company in America. It's known by fans as the Beau Peep White Album, due to the minimalist cover.
This is one of the customer reviews posted on Amazon:
"Beau Peep is still the funniest cartoon there ever has been. Anyone who doesn't laugh at this is either dead or something worse. I know lots of people who have this book and they laughed. That's because they are alive.
The drawings are brilliant and the speech bubbles hold just the right amount of words. It's almost as if the writey man and the drawey man were in cahoots about it all.
The white cover is perfect...not overly white and not underly so, and the title of the book describes it perfectly. The Adventures of Beau Peep are just that...adventures.
I must praise the Fort too, for it's build quality. I was looking through my old issues and it hasn't deteriorated a bit. That's quality workmanship for you in such a hostile environment.
May I also say how happy I was to realise that this wasn't just for the "readers" amongst us..no siree. For all you mathematicians out there, this is right up your street. Each page is numbered...with a different number in a logical mathematical progression. How totally cool is that?
Honestly, buy this book, and any others if you can pick them up cheaper than this. I'm going to buy another one to keep my first one good...in fact I'm going to buy a third to keep my second one in top nick.
Top job Mr Teapot and Mr Christmas. A1."
Four books plus a Supplement, of translated strips, in black and white, have been published in Italy (where the strip is known, bizarrely, as 'Beep Peep').
Some of the Daily Star adverts for the books:
