Bunter Books

BILLY BUNTER BOOK COLLECTION

Billy Bunter, by Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton, 1876—1961), is/was an incredibly popular series of comic stories published in The Magnet, and as a series of novels.

The popularity of Bunter is perhaps unexpected given that the central Bunter character is a tremendously unpleasant, fat, stupid, lazy, greedy, liar. However, besides Hamilton's outstanding writing capabilities, much of the comedy of the Bunter stories is in fact derived from Bunter's unfailing adherence to these terrible character flaws.

In the following extract from Billy Bunter Of Greyfriars School (the first Bunter book), Mr. Quelch confronts Bunter on this very subject:

    “Your stupidity,” said Mr. Quelch, “I can excuse—I can make allowance for that. But your idleness—your slackness— your incorrigible untruthfulness—these are faults that you could amend, if you chose. You are a disgrace to your form, Bunter.”
    “Not me, sir!” gasped Bunter. “Perhaps you're mixing me up with some other fellow, sir.”
    “What?”
    “I—I mean, perhaps you're thinking of Wharton, sir, or Cherry—or—or Nugent—or Toddy——!” stammered Bunter.
    “That you are the most obtuse boy in the Remove, is perhaps not your fault,” went on Mr. Quelch, regardless. “Yet you could make some effort, Bunter, if you chose to do so. Your idleness is phenomenal. Your preparation is always neglected—your construe invariably bad. You are consistently inattentive in class—you have even,” said Mr. Quelch, in a very deep voice, “gone to sleep in class.”
    “Oh, no, sir! I—I listen so much better with my eyes shut——.”
    “Your untruthfulness,” said Mr. Quelch, “is appalling! That is the only word to describe it. It is appalling!”
    “Oh, really, sir——.”
    “If you compensated for slackness in class by keenness at games, some excuse could be found for you,” said Mr. Quelch. “But you are frequently punished for evading games practice— only last week the Head of the Games punished you for this——.”
    “I—I had a pain, sir,” mumbled Bunter. “I—I told Wingate I had a touch of plumbago, sir——.”
    “Frequently,” said Mr. Quelch, “your greediness has caused you to purloin food from other boys' studies——.”
    “If you mean the jam, sir, it wasn't Smithy's—and—and that cake wasn't Wharton's——.”
    “Lines and detentions, even canings, seem to effect no improvement,” said Mr. Quelch. “You are incorrigible, Bunter...”

Many of the Bunter stories employ a somewhat unusual plot device: typically some sort of scandal is set up that Bunter either instigates, or accidentally gains knowledge of. Due to Bunter's stupidity and inability to tell the truth, he typically yet unintentionally blabs the details of the scandal to any inquiring authorites, usually under the gimlet eyes of Mr. Quelch, or in some cases, the Headmaster, Dr. Locke, and the results of the inquiry are used to progress the plot.

Frank Richards wrote 38 Billy Bunter books, and another entitled Bessie Bunter of Cliff House School, published between 1947 and 1965. The 38th Bunter book was originally called Bunter To The Rescue but it was published posthumously under the title Bunter's Last Fling.

Charles Skilton Ltd. published the first 10 books in the series. After that, Cassell & Company Ltd. took over, including later editions of the Skilton originals.

Book Collection

As follows, my current Bunter Book collection:

	Publisher	First Published	Title	Title/Cover Colors	Collection Edition
1	Skilton	1947	Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School	Black on Blue	4th
2	Skilton	1948	Billy Bunter's Banknote	Red on Blue	3rd (Cassell)
3	Skilton	1948	Billy Bunter's Barring Out	Black on Red	1st
4	Skilton	1949	Billy Bunter in Brazil	Black on Orange	3rd (Cassell)
5	Skilton	1949	Billy Bunter's Christmas Party	Red on Blue	3rd (Cassell)
6	Skilton	1950	Billy Bunter's Benefit	Black on Red	1st
7	Skilton	1950	Billy Bunter Among The Cannibals	Black on Red	3rd (Cassell)
8	Skilton	1951	Billy Bunter's Postal Order	Dark Blue on Green	1st
9	Skilton	1951	Billy Bunter Butts In	Red on Green	1st
10	Skilton	1952	Billy Bunter and the Blue Mauritius	Dark Blue on Green	1st
11	Cassell	1952	Billy Bunter's Beanfeast	Black on Red	1st
12	Cassell	1953	Billy Bunter's Brain-Wave	Red on Lime Green	2nd
13	Cassell	1953	Billy Bunter's First Case	Black on Red	2nd
14	Cassell	1954	Billy Bunter The Bold	Black on Blue	1st
15	Cassell	1954	Bunter Does His Best!	Red on Green	1st
16	Cassell	1955	Billy Bunter's Double	Black on Red	1st
17	Cassell	1955	Backing Up Billy Bunter	Red on Blue	3rd
18	Cassell	1956	Lord Billy Bunter	Red on Blue	1st
19	Cassell	1956	The Banishing of Billy Bunter	Black on Red	1st
20	Cassell	1957	Billy Bunter's Bolt	Black on Red	1st
21	Cassell	1957	Billy Bunter Afloat	Black on Green	1st
22	Cassell	1958	Billy Bunter's Bargain	Black on Red	1st
23	Cassell	1958	Billy Bunter The Hiker	White on Dark Blue	1st
24	Cassell	1959	Bunter Out Of Bounds	Lime on Sea Green	1st
25	Cassell	1959	Bunter Comes for Christmas	Black on Turquoise	1st
26	Cassell	1960	Bunter The Bad Lad	Yellow on Dark Blue	1st
27	Cassell	1960	Bunter Keeps it Dark	Black on Orange	1st
28	Cassell	1961	Billy Bunter's Treasure Hunt	Red on Green	1st
29	Cassell	1961	Billy Bunter At Butlin's	Black on Red	1st
30	Cassell	1961	Bunter The Ventriloquist	Dark Green on Yellow	1st
31	Cassell	1962	Bunter The Caravanner	Black on Green	1st
32	Cassell		Billy Bunter's Bodyguard
33	Cassell	1963	Big Chief Bunter	Red on Grey	1st
34	Cassell	1963	Just Like Bunter	Red on Orange	1st
35	Cassell		Bunter the Stowaway
36	Cassell	1964	Thanks To Bunter	Black on Yellow	1st
37	Cassell	1965	Bunter the Sportsman	White on Red/Brown	1st
38	Cassell	1965	Bunter's Last Fling	Black on Turquoise	1st