Dandy 75: National Library Of Scotland Exhibition

By Jeremy Briggs on December 12, 2012

Art And History of The Dandy Exhibition 2013

The celebrations of The Dandy’s 75th birthday around the country include three different exhibitions, one in the Cartoon Museum in London, one in the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee (downthetubes feature here), and one in the National Library Of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Located on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh’s Old Town near the Castle, the National Library Of Scotland is one of the six legal deposit libraries of the British Isles (along with the British Library in London, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Cambridge University Library, Trinity College Library in Dublin and the National Library of Wales)

The NLS puts on a selection of free exhibitions throughout the year including one series under the title of ‘Treasures’ which change frequently and use a single room in the library’s foyer. The current Treasures exhibition covers the Art and History of The Dandy and features a selection of original artwork, both black and white and colour, original scripts both typed and longhand, plus comics, annuals and various other Dandy items. While the exhibition is not large, it has an impressive array of items from all eras of the title.

The NLS previous has put on the impressive Local Heroes: The Art Of The Graphic Novel exhibition which was featured on downthetubes here, and we also interviewed the curator of the exhibition, John Birch, on the main downthetubes.net site.

Issue 22 of the library’s free magazine, Discover NLS, is also of interest as it includes a two page Dandy strip by long time DC Thomson artist Jim Glen especially created for the magazine featuring Desperate Dan and a whole host of Dandy characters delivering the items for display from the Dandy office to the NLS. Needless to say things do not go smoothly when Hungry Horace and Greedy Pigg discover the NLS’s recently opened cafe. Discover NLS issue 22 is available to read on-line here.

• The Art And History Of The Dandy exhibition at the National Library Of Scotland runs until February 3 2013 and is free. There are more details including opening hours at the National Library Of Scotland website

Jeremy Briggs

News, reviews, interviews and features for print and on-line: Spaceship Away (since October 2005), Bear Alley (since February 2007), downthetubes (since June 2007), and Eagle Times (since October 2008). Plus DC Thomson’s The Art Of Ian Kennedy, Titan’s Dan Dare and Johnny Red reprints, Ilex’s War Comics: A Graphic History and 500 Essential Graphic Novels, and Print Media’s The Iron Moon and Strip magazine.