Classics Illustrated
Classics Illustrated (Strato Publications Ltd., 1954 series) has been grouped as part of a series of titles with continued numbering.
When the Australian Ayers and James series ended in 1953, colour UK editions (Thorpe & Porter/Strato) were imported into Australia, with price stickers or covers printed with multi-country pricing. These issues seem to be primarily in the early 100s, up to #125, with some earlier issues.
From about issue 120 (around 1954/55), current and back issue UK editions were printed with separate covers for Australia and imported by Ayers and James. These editions can generally be identified by higher 2/- pricing and an Ayers and James address for ordering back issues.
The publisher of Australian variants for the UK series was initially listed as Strato Publications and later Thorpe & Porter Ltd. It is possible that not all UK issues were printed with Australian variants.
Start and end dates for the series are based on known dates for the UK edition, which is reported to run October 1951 to June 1963. Dating for all issues is very uncertain. There is some information on UK editions in Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, 2d ed. By William B Jones Jr (Appendix J). See also Bryon Whitworth's Classics Illustrated British Editions: A Complete Collector's Guide.
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