The Giles The Collection 2027 is scheduled for publication on 3rd September 2026 by Cassell.
The book, an annual event for decades celebrating the cartoons of the legendary Daily Express cartoonist Carl Giles (1916 – 1995), contains 150 cartoons from the archives of the Daily Express and Sunday Express, often featuring Giles’s iconic, dysfunctional family.
Many of the collections published since his death contain cartoons that have never been reprinted before, should collectors need encouragement to pick this up.
“The Giles Annual is a British institution as reassuringly familiar as a red pillar box or a black cab,” say Cassell. “This is a brand new collection of work from the 20th century’s greatest cartoonist, bringing together some of his busiest artworks. Whether it’s children running riot, animals behaving badly or grandma remonstrating with authority, many of the cartoons feature his iconic, dysfunctional family, and are packed with tonnes of detail to pour over.”
The cover art is taken from a 1980 Christmas Card for the Game Conservancy Trust for the Game Conservancy Trust (today known as the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust) by Giles. The original is held by the British Cartoon Archive, one of the eleven cards he painted. These were included as a colour section in the Giles – Sunday Express And Daily Express Cartoons – 44th Series collection, published in 1990. You can usually find copies of this fairly cheaply on sites such as eBay.
The new collection is available to order now from all good bookshops (ISBN: 978-1788406765, uk.bookshop.org link), as well as online retailers like AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
Alongside the Fred Basset collections, by Graham, the Giles annuals were a staple of my childhood, Christmas and birthday gifts for my Dad; and the cartoonist’s work quite the influence on a wide range of comic creators, including the Beano‘s Leo Baxendale.
Stay at Giles Former Home
If you’re a fan, did you know you can stay in his former home, Hillbrow Farm, halfway between Witnesham and Tuddenham, in Suffolk?
These days it’s a Bread and Breakfast and Giles is very much focused on there, with a lot of high quality prints of his artwork, featuring the farm, on display. Giles expert Bruce Sellers, who visited recently, notes the prints were arranged by the then archivist Nick Hiley, at the British Cartoon Archive in Canterbury, when he was enjoying a stay at the B&B about 15 or so years ago.
The Farm has not been worked for some years, but when Giles lived there, he owned and worked 80 acres. However, much of the land was sold off after his death, and only twelve acres remain with the house.
The original farmhouse was built in the 17th century, with another dwelling added to the north side at a later date. This was subsequently made into one house. A family of ten were living here in the 1800s. The house is made of red brick, but it has been painted black and white in more recent years.
“Giles home studio is evident as a two storey white painted building to the left of the main house,” Bruce notes. “The Studio is now a nice bedroom, so you can stay there, if you so wish. I have – it’s great.”
Much of Giles original art is archived at the University of Kent in the British Cartoon Archive as Carl Giles Trust Collection. In 1993, a bronze statue depicting Grandma looking up at the window of the studio in Ipswich where he used to work was unveiled by Death Do Us Part actor Warren Mitchell. Giles, who was by this time using a wheelchair, was present at the unveiling.
With thanks to Lew Stringer for the heads up
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, Comic Previews, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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