In 2016, photographs taken in the mid-1950s by future British film director Ken Russell (1927-2011) were discovered in an agency archive (see www.theguardian.com/.../ken-russell-post-war-london-in-pictures-rolleicord-teddy-girls and www.creativeboom.com/.../ken-russells-iconic-photographs-of-londons-teddy-girls-discovered-50-years-later).

At the time, Russell worked as a freelance photographer documenting everyday people and street scenes from London's East End, as it recovered from bombing raids during World War Two. Some of his photographs were used to accompany an article titled 'What's Wrong with Teddy Girls?', published in Picture Post 4 June 1955.

This is one of Russell's previously unpublished 'Teddy Girls' photos from January 1955 showing Pat Wiles in front of an outdoor magazine display with a copy of Crime Casebook (Transport Publishing) #19. There also appears to be a copy of The Phantom (Frew Publications) #70.

These Australian comics were being sold at the discounted price of three pence. Anecdotal evidence suggests Australian comics did not circulate widely beyond major British port cities where they arrived as part of incoming ships' ballast. They were most likely sold through informal channels, such as bookstalls (as in this photo), outdoor markets, or via peddlers, who sold miscellaneous goods door-to-door or in communal settings like pubs and taverns.

Image and text (edited) from Kevin Patrick, via the Australian Reprint Comic Book Appreciation Society Facebook group. Another photo with additional comics is assessed at Down the Tubes (see downthetubes.net/snapshots-in-time-a-teddy-girl-from-1955-and-more-importantly-some-very-cheap-comics).