Apologies
…For taking so long (twelve years!) to get around to updating this section. The fact is that it was supposed to be a particular person's 'Pet Project', & unfortunately they are no longer in a position to provide the material for which we've been waiting. We'll start again from scratch, but in the meantime, here's some background information:
The Patterson Blick Instant Picture Books had a long run, & sold in huge numbers.
These sixteen-page booklets, each supplied with a removable sheet of transfers in the centre, were the brainchild of Dennis Knight, who designed them & often supplied his own illustrations.
They got off to a great start with "Monsters to Caveman" which according to its creator was always the most popular title. Many were translated into numerous other languages.
Here is a competition advert from 'Look and Learn', 27th July 1968 — featuring the first eight Patterson Blick Instant Picture Books. Therefore they must have been available by that date, whereas Nos.9 to 12 were not… Nos.1 to 6 have a copyright date of 1967, whereas 7 to 12 are dated 1968.
Despite the 1967 date, this probably indicates merely that Dennis Knight had them ready for publication before the end of the year. They weren't actually published until the rotary gravure press was up & running in the Ashford factory in 1968.
The first title, "Monsters to Caveman", has the appearance of being prepared in 4-spot colour as if it was to be silkscreen printed, but in fact in the end it was gravure. Dennis Knight, however, tells us that he has no recollection of treating that transfer sheet differently from any of the others in any way, so this is a bit of a puzzle.
After Patterson Blick (the stationery company) lost interest in continuing to publish or reprint the series, despite its huge success, Dennis went it alone with a new series of "Dennis Knight Activity Books", many of which were straightforward updated versions of the Patterson Blick series using the same transfer sheets, but some of which were brand new. They will be listed below the following thumbnails.
N.B.: only the orange links are currently active. Hopefully more titles will be available before too long!
1: Monsters to Caveman
K108 [1967]
2: Carriages to Cars
K110 [1967]
3: Zoo Life
K111 [1967]
4: Fashion Through the Ages
K112 [1967]
5: Ballet
K1168 [1967]
6: Air Travel
K117 [1967]
7: Migratory Birds
K118 [1968]
8: Farms and Food
K119 [1968]
9: Charge of the Light Brigade
K120 [1968]
10: Dogs
K123 [1968]
11: Noah and the Flood
K122 [1968]
12: The American Indian
K121 [1968]
13: Battle of Britain
GK1 [1969]
14: Marco Polo
GK3 [1968]
15: Sea Travel
GK2 [1968]
16: Horses and Ponies
GK4 [1969]
17: Dancing
GK24 [1970]
18: Pond Life
GK23 [1970]
19: Outer Space
GK25 [1969]
20: Stories for Younger Children
GK26 [1970]
21: The D-Day Landings
GK46 [1970]
22: The Battle of Waterloo
GK47 [1970]
23: Ancient Egypt
GK48 [1970]
24: Football
GK27 [1969]
25: Playing with Words No.1
(Nouns) GK73 [1971]
26: Playing with Words No.2
(Verbs) GK74 [1971]
27: Playing with Shapes
GK75 [1971]
28: Playing with Numbers
GK76 [1971]
29: The Olympic Games
GK110 [1972]
30: The Dam Busters
GK112 [1972]
31: Sovereigns of England
GK115 [1972]
32: Railway Trains
GK113 [1972]
33: World War One
GK114 [1972]
34: The Zulu Wars
PR175 [1972]
35: Rugby Football
PR175 [1973]
36: The Sioux Uprisings
PR175 [1973]
37: Costumes of the World
PR175 [1972]
38: Desert Battle
PR206 [1974]
39: The American Revolution
PR206 [1974]
40: Fish and Fishing
PR206 [1974]
41: Castles and Forts
PR206 [1974]
RSPCA Instant Picture Books
There were also two other books from 1974, in conjunction with the RSPCA & unnumbered:
British Wild Life
PR191/A
Pet Care
PR191/B
Dennis Knight Activity Books
Patterson Blick having lost interest in publishing Dennis Knight's Instant Picture Books, he bought back the rights & struck out on his own (although the booklets continued to be published by the Royal Sovereign Group, who owned Patterson Blick).
There were quite a few of these Dennis Knight Activity Books, starting with "Monsters to Cavemen". Note that the title had changed slightly; when first published by Patterson Blick, it had been "Monsters to Caveman"!
The back page of the Dennis Knight Activity Books from 1976 lists thirty-four titles (not sure what Dennis thought of the unnecessary apostrophe!), but this includes reprints & remainders of most of the Patterson Blick series; here are those titles which came with new transfer sheets:
Baron Richthofen
(New Title) GK220
Monsters of the Deep
(New Title) GK221
D-Day Landings
(Updated Transfers) GK222
Space Flight
(Updated Transfers) GK223
World Wildlife
(New Title)
Dennis Knight Activity Books Luxurious Imitation Leather Binder…
…with a Gold Blocked Cover
Photos courtesy of Steve Gilbey
Steve Gilbey sent me these photos of his binder, his Grandmother — who had worked at Scripto's & consequently received the occasional promotional item — having recently passed away:
"Unfortunately not signed. Books inside are Baron Richthofen, Space Flight, D-Day Landings, Monsters of the Deep, World Wildlife, Sovereigns of England, Battle of Britain, The Dam Busters and Monsters to Cavemen. The books also have a sheet of tracing-type paper over them that offers the binders for the price of £1."
See below for the many promotions for, or otherwise involving, the Patterson Blick series:
Patterson Blick Instant Picture Book Promotions ↑