The Topper Book was the name of the book that had been published every year since 1954, to tie in with the children's comic

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 The Topper

Topper (comic book)

The Topper was a UK comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd that ran from 7 February 1953 to 15 September 1990, when it merged with The Beezer....

. 40 were made over the years. Since they were traditionally published in the autumn and in time for Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

, since 1966 they had the date of the following year on the cover. Unlike other annuals made by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd

D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd

D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...

 where the year was added in 1965. Before then no date was given.

Originally called 'The Topper Book' with no year at the end, it was horizontally shaped (landscape) instead of vertically shaped (portrait) like The Beano Annual

The Beano Annual

The Beano Annual is the current name of the book that has been published every year since 1939, to tie in with the children's comic The Beano. there have been 73 editions They are traditionally published in August, in time for Christmas, and since 1965 they have had the date of the following year...

 and The Dandy Annual

The Dandy Annual

The Dandy Annual is the current name of the book that has been published every year since 1938, to tie in with the children's comic The Dandy. there have been 74 editions, with another presumably to follow in 2012. The annuals are traditionally published in August, in time for Christmas, and...

. It became vertically shaped as of the 1960 annual. Although The Topper merged with The Beezer

Beezer

The Beezer was a British comic that ran from 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993,...

in 1990, the annual continued for a few years afterwards. The 1994 annual, published in 1993, was the last one.

This information is necessary to identify the annuals before they were dated. Annuals were published the autumn before with the 1955 annual publishede Autumn 1954. Price in shillings and (old) pence with one shilling equal to 5p.

• 1955. 23 different characters in five strips with the last being a giant panda. Price 7/-
• 1956. Dartboard design with Topper characters in middle circle and birds, cars, etc. in outer circle. Price 7/-
• 1957. Twenty five squares, each containing a different character or object. Prtice 7/-
• 1958. Diamond like diagonal shapes, each containing a character or object. Price 7/-
• 1959. Captain Bungle pointing rifle at four animals in distance. Elephant, giraffe, hippo and zebra. Monkey sitting on rifle about to fire catapult at him. Price 7/-
• 1960. Title is diagonal with heads of Topper characters above and below it. Price 7/-
• 1961. Bandit Figaro (Mexican) leaning against cactus tree and laughing while reading Topper book. Horse laughing with him. Price 7/6
• 1962. A number of heads of characters with names below them. Beryl the Peril top right and Foxy bottom right. Price 7/6
• 1963. Julius Cheeser sitting in deck chair amidst drawing pins. Tom Cat clutching his foot which has four drawing pins sticking in it. Heads of five Topper characters above title. Price 7/6
• 1964. Foxy with hands above his head. Rifle pointed at his back held by chicken and balloon. Price 7/6
• 1965. Two pictures. Figaro holding up a cowboy while another cowboy is hiding behind a rock and lighting a firework. Price 7/6
• 1966. Four pictures showing Tom Cat and Julius Cheeser and a fire-cracker. Price 7/6