The reprints of children’s publications, now almost forgotten, are like the gifts of the king cake: an additional offer inside the issues, a habit built throughout the publication and that constituted a differentiating factor of the magazine in the eternal struggle for the readers’ preference.
The magazines, in particular, those with square stories, began to offer simple and small format reprints from 1903 with O Gafanhoto. But it would be the ABCzinho that, by the hand of Cottinelli Telmo, would achieve, in 1921, extraordinary quality and beauty in constructions lithographed in two colours, that integrated the first series of the magazine. In the late 1920s, newspapers also began to include reprints, sometimes with armoured buildings. This is the case of Notícias Miudinho, a children’s supplement from Diário de Notícias, and Pim-Pam-Pum, a children’s supplement from O Século. Of course, for competition reasons, other publications have adopted the same strategy. This happened with Có-có-ró-có, by António Cardoso Lopes (who signed Tiotónio), in 1928, and with Tic-Tac, in 1932.
In the following years, O Senhor Doutor, in 1933, and O Papagaio, in 1935, did not defraud their readers. Papagaio offered, for the first time, transparent sheets with embroidery designs for the readers, the construction of Guimarães castle, in a hitherto record of 16 sheets, and a booklet with a complete history in BD by Júlio Resende. But the number of sheets was soon exceeded by ‘ O Senhor Doutor’ who offered the extraordinary Embassy of the 18th Century in 52 sheets A3, which is built in the exhibition and which constituted a maximum that would remain unbeatable.
In 1936, The Mosquito marks a new level with the Tower of Belém and the game of fighting, armoury constructions by António Velez that rivalled in importance with the Diário de Notícias building and the Monastery of Leça do Balio, by Diabetes. In the 1950s, the Portuguese Magazine Agency reoriented the notion of offprint in Plateia, with photographs of colour artists, and in O Mundo de Aventuras with photographs of sportsmen, football teams, statesmen and collectable stickers. With an important role in these years, the Andante Knight offered games, and stickers that enabled competitions, and the Titan, published reprints with themes of general culture. In the 1960s, military uniforms and trading cards, designed by José Garcês, for Camarada’s second series stand out. In the 1970s, O Jornal do Cuto , from Portugal Press, stands out, with reprints in poster format, and the 108 memorable paintings of the History of Portugal, by Carlos Alberto Santos.
The 1980s marked the end of comic books, reprints and armoury constructions. However, the constructions continued to be produced, in particular, by the Portuguese Magazine Agency and there are several brands and commercial houses that still offer them to children today. The arrival of the BD albums also encouraged the construction of arming and José Garcês, one of the greatest Portuguese illustrators, designed for Edições ASA a set of regional houses and Portuguese monuments: the Batalha Monastery, the Jerónimos Monastery, and the Tower Belém, in addition to a caravel, all in large format.
The arming constructions are not over and even the magazines long have gone extinct live here and there, in bottoms of forgotten drawers or boxes, from where they are recovered to the delight of collectors who once experienced the desperation of the folds to hit and the elusive charm of the building perfect.
National Library of Portugal
Cultural Activities Service
Campo Grande, 83
1749-081 Lisbon
Portugal
Contact Information
Public Relations Service
Tel. 21 798 21 68
Fax 21 798 21 38
rel_publicas@bnportugal.gov.pt
Schedules
From July 18 to 15 sep.
2nd – 6th 09h30 – 17h30
From 16 set. (including)
2nd – 6th 09h30 – 19h30
Sat. 9:30 am – 5:30 pm