Figure 1.--'The Wolf Cub Annual' is a British Scout Association publication printed in 1957. It's an annual aimed at Cub Scouts.

There were also a variety of annuals for both Scouts and Cubs. These inexpensive editions were popular with British boys for many years. I am not sure when they first appeared, but of course would have to be after 1906 when Baden Powell founded the Scout movement. We have noted quite a fews Cub annuals. There were also Scout annuals. The Scout annuals tended to be more popular earlier, but by the 1960s the Cubs annuals were more common. I think Scout-age boys began to see these annuals as more appropriate for younger boys. The annual for Cubs was Sixer Annual. I think "Sixer" referred to a Cub rank. Earlier editions were called The Wolf Cub Annual. These annuals, had a miscelanous collection of stories, articles on interesting topics, comics, activities, puzzles, crosswords, games, and much more. There were many illustrations, but some of the illustrations in early editions were of poor quality and did not have full color photographs and illustrations. Many have the annoying habbit of not being dated--of course meaning that they did not as easily go out of date on book shop shelves. We have Cub annuals from the late 1970s. These may have been some of the last annuals as the economics for these annuals changed in the late 20th century and this genre declined in poularity. Some annuals continued to be published for pop stars that could guarantee a loyal audience.

Chronology

These inexpensive editions were popular with British boys for many years. I am not sure when they first appeared, but of course would have to be after 1906 when Baden Powell founded the Scout movement.

Types

There were also a variety of annuals for both Scouts and Cubs. We have noted quite a fews Cub annuals. There were also Scout annuals.

The Scout Annuals

The Scout annuals tended to be popular early in the Scout movement. I'm not sure when the first one was published. We note that by the 1960s the Cubs annuals were more common. I think Scout-age boys began to see these annuals as more appropriate for younger boys. We know the Scout annuals were still being made in the 1950s, but I am not sure to what extnt they were published afterwards.

The Scout’s Pathfinder Annuals

The Scout’s Pathfinder Annuals rivalled The Scout Annual in that they were similar in content, although they weren’t as lengthy, stretching to 125 pages, whereas The Scout Annual had around 225. However, this had diminished when the annuals were published in the 1980s. The 1980 edition had been reduced to 79 pages. The fact that they were shorter in length didn’t demean its publication. In fact, both annuals complimented each other and were both prized by a young Scout when he found them in his stocking on Christmas morning. As with The Scout Annual they were rich in Scout and Sea Scout stories by authors such as Leighton Houghton and Arthur Catherall and again these were richly illustrated by John Challen. In 1969 Robert Moss who edited these annuals brought out a separate publication featuring some of the stories that featured in the main annual. The 1980 edition was edited by Jack Cox and the annuals were published by Purnell.

Cub annuals

The annual for Cubs was Sixer Annual. I think "Sixer" referred to a Cub rank. Earlier editions were called The Wolf Cub Annual. These annuals, had a miscelanous collection of stories, articles on interesting topics, comics, activities, puzzles, crosswords, games, and much more. There were many illustrations, but some of the illustrations in early editions were of poor quality and did not have full color photographs and illustrations. Many have the annoying habbit of not being dated--of course meaning that they did not as easily go out of date on book shop shelves. We have Cub annuals from the late 1970s. These may have been some of the last annuals as the economics for these annuals changed in the late 20th century and this genre declined in poularity. Some annuals continued to be published for pop stars that could guarantee a loyal audience.

Country Trends

We note that Scout associations in many countries had publications. There were of course handbooks and other publications ssocited wth meri badges. Many also had periodical magazines of variou types. At this time, the only annual we know about is the Enlish Scout and Cub annuals.