Library

Are you a Member?  or an Associate Member?
Why not join our group or upgrade to full/E membership and enjoy all of the Followers' benefits?

Only Full or E-members of the Followers of Rupert can see the Librarian's contact details or borrow items from the Library.

Meanwhile, here is some information from the Followers' Librarian

Although as a Follower, I knew about our library, it was not until I agreed to take on the role of librarian that I fully realised what a wonderful resource we have.  It is a privilege to house the Rupert  Library in our home and to be able to support Followers who would like to access the wealth of publications and archives we have.

I took on the role from Louise Hopkins, who had worked tirelessly to make sure there were electronic records of all our newspaper cuttings, filing systems in place and who continues to offer me support and advice.  Picking up the library from Louise was an enlightening experience – boxes and bookcases of real gems.  We have now set up the library in a dedicated Rupert Library room in our home in Llanfyllin, mid-Wales.  Followers are most welcome to visit us and explore the library for themselves in addition to contacting us with queries through e-mail and receiving items by post.

There are over seven hundred catalogued items, mainly books, but also comics, tapes, videos, CDs and even some badges. We have, of course, a full set of annuals, Adventure Series and the Little Bear library of Mary Tourtel. But the Followers library has other less-known oddities, such as The Princess Elizabeth Gift Book which contains a Rupert story by Mary Tourtel called Rupert the Little Bear Goes Adventuring in the Robbers' Den and with the Giants, or the Blue Peter Annual No 18 which contains two pages on ‘The Bear Facts´.

The unique element of the library is the sets of newspaper cuttings. In these we are extremely fortunate to have Bestall´s own personal cuttings, each story in a separate envelope with the name of the story handwritten by Bestall. These cover the period from 1935 to 1967. After that, we have most of the original cuttings from 1986. All stories are now in digital format and can be accessed through the Follower’s website.

The Library does not cover the full set of stories issued in the Daily Express but the early gap of Mary Tourtel stories is covered, albeit with photocopies of the originals. We also have a copy of Rupert and the Bad Baboon being the only story published in the Daily Express without drawings - this uses photos of real puppets.

In the past, the Followers have received a wide range of items such as magazines containing articles on Rupert, knitting and sewing patterns, scrapbooks and posters. The Library is the natural home for such items.

The Library is also an archive for the Followers as a whole. We retain copies of each Nutwood Newsletter that is published, each of the Nutwood Specials, together with minutes from Committee meetings and the AGM, correspondence to the Followers, and most importantly, a copy of our constitution. As an aside, the Library has its own constitution governing the loan of items.

At this point you may be asking yourself what´s the benefit of the library to the average Follower. Well, it is your Library and it operates in a similar manner to your local Public Library. You can request copies of the books and other items held within it. Most can be posted to you for you to read at your leisure as unlike Public Libraries we don´t have fixed borrowing times. All we ask is that you pay the postal charges of sending the book to you and returning it to the library. As you well know, some Rupert books are too difficult (and expensive!) to replace so these are considered ‘reference books´. You are very welcome to visit the Library and access any of these types of books. Just contact me to arrange a mutually suitable time.

The most popular service the Library provides is that of supplying missing individual newspaper episodes or whole newspaper stories. Several members are ‘regulars´ and periodically ask the Library to fill the gaps in their collection. The Library cannot, of course, provide you with original cuttings but photocopies are available in a choice of two medias. You can either request them as hard copy, that is, as photocopies of the originals, or you can request them in electronic format. With photocopies you pay for the cost of copying and postage and packing. There is no cost for receiving them in electronic format; all you need is an email address.

The presentation of the copied cuttings is as good as we can make it - sometimes this means it is a copy of a faded photocopy. In this case we will tell you and let you decide if you still want it, before creating the paper copy. However, the quality of layout of the cuttings does not come anywhere near that of the Nutwood Specials.

The Library is also happy to provide photocopies of individual book covers or pages. This has been requested in the past to help with restoring treasured annuals. And before you ask, we can´t send you a copy of a brown-faced 1973 annual cover, because we don´t have one! However, if there is anything else you do want, please get in contact either by email or by phone!