The Beano Annual

The Beano Annual
The cover of the Beano Book 1972
Publication information
Publisher	D.C. Thomson & Co
Schedule	Annual
Format	Children's
Genre	Comic strips
Publication date	1939-present
No. of issues	73
Main character(s)	Dennis and Gnasher
Creative team as of 2015
Written by	D.C. Thomson
Editor(s)	D.C. Thomson

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. As of 2016^[update] there have been 78 editions. The annuals are traditionally published in July or August, in time for Christmas, and since 1965 they have had the date of the following year on the cover. Before then no date was given.

From 1942 to 1949 the annual was called "The Magic-Beano Book", which referred to the short-lived Magic Comic that had ceased publication in 1941 due to the Second World War's paper rationing. The name reverted to the original title of "The Beano Book" in 1950 and continued, the year changing for each subsequent annual, until the release of the 2003 book in 2002 when it was renamed "The Beano Annual". The 2011 Beano Annual is taller and wider than previous annuals.

After paper rationing had ended, The Magic Comic was never revived, but some of the characters who had originally appeared in the pre-war Magic Comic remained as regular strips in the post-1950 Beano Comic (such as Koko the Pup).

Because of his popularity, Dennis the Menace has appeared on the front cover of every annual since the release of the 1979 book in 1978.

The latest version was released in 2016 and was dated 2017. The book has retailed at £7.99 since 2009 (released 2008)

This information is necessary to identify older annuals which are not dated. If an annual is dated 1940, it would have been published in August 1939. Prices are in shillings and pence with one shilling equal to 5p.

The Beano Book

The Magic-Beano Book

The Beano Book

From 1966 all annuals were dated.

The Beano Annual