First Issue: 30th March 1907
Last Issue: December 1939
Copyright: Amalgamated Press
The Gem Library’, to give it its full title, was the sister paper to ‘The Magnet Library’. In an article entitled ‘Boy’s Weeklies’ George Orwell considered Gem to be less popular than Magnet. Although less popular, Gem and Magnet were very similar in that they centred their stories around schools. Gem’s stories were based around a school called St. James College, better known to the pupils as St. Jim’s, and the adventures of the pupils in the Fourth and Shell forms.
One of the best known characters from Gem was ‘Tom Merry’. The Gem and Magnet dominated the storypaper market at the time and it lead DC Thomson to launch ‘The Big 5’ which were ‘The Adventure’, ‘The Rover’, ‘The Wizard’, ‘The Skipper’ and The Hotspur. Gem’s run came to an end with its merger with ‘Triumph’.
The Gem Library Comic 25th August 1928 Issue Number 1071
