Picture Fun

The Picture Fun was first published by Trapps Holmes on 16th February 1909. It ran for 595 issues before being incorporated into Film Fun on 24th July 1920. At some point in it's history Amalgamated Press absorbed this title.

A number of Hamilton stories appeared in the Picture Fun under a variety of pen names including Cecil Herbert, Robert Jennings, Gillingham Jones, Ridley Redway, Raleigh Robbins, Robert Rogers and Talbot Wynyard. I'm not sure if any original Hamilton material was published in this story paper or whether all the stories were reprints from other Trapps Holmes publications. Allan S and John L have been researching the Trapps Holmes publications and their findings are recorded in the Hamilton Bibliography.

Copies of this paper (in fact all Trapps Holmes publications) are very difficult to obtain. The paper doesn't age well and is very brittle so perhaps that is why we don't see many issues coming on to the market today. If anyone can provide more information on this publication (or indeed in any Trapps Holmes publication) please contact me.

Thanks to Gary I have a few issues featuring St Kates, another of Hamilton's many creations. Unfortunately they don't appear to be original stories but reprints of a story that first appeared in the Vanguard Library in 1907/08. The issues are-

Picture Fun 246 1913-10-13             Picture Fun 280 1914-06-14

Picture Fun 288 1914-08-15            Picture Fun 289 1914-08-22

These stories are certainly of historical interest but even the most ardent Hamilton fan could hardly describe them as classics!