The Snow White "Story of" Books

Front Cover of the Snow White Edition

The "Story of" series of Snow White books were produced in 1938 by Whitman Publishing Company. Sold as a boxed set of eight, each illustrated story book was devoted to one character (the Princess and the individual Dwarfs). Printed on an inexpensive pulp stock with somewhat heavier stock covers, they were designed to be read and colored by younger readers. Each title measures 7.5" x 11" and contains 24 pages.

Each of the books were numbered 1044, and the set came housed together in an illustrated box.

Info and images via Heritage Auctions.

This set appears on page 839 of Hake's Official Price Guide to Disney Collectibles (2nd ed.), 2007...

See The Story of Dopey book in next post.

Gladstone Comic Book (50th Anniversary - 1987)

The Gladstone Golden Anniversary comic book/magazine was published in September, 1987 commemorating the 50th anniversary of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The issue included not only the original Hank Porter Sunday paper comic strip but also articles on the film, a fold-out poster and two Panini sticker packets. Original cover price: $2.95 (USD).

Front Cover

Table of Contents

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The Making of the Cover (artist Ron Dias) and The Many Faces of Snow White...

Three Faces of Snow White and The Gustaf Tenggren Gallery...

What Ever Happened to Prince Buckethead?...

See the original Hank Porter Sunday comic strip in its entirety in an earlier post.

Rear endpaper and back cover ads...

Material copyright Gladstone/Disney. All images from personal collection.

Gladstone Poster (50th Anniversary - 1987)

The collectible fold-out poster which came with the 1987 Gladstone comic. It features the Ron Dias artwork from the front cover.

Fold-out Poster. Measures approx. 21" x 15 1/2".

Gladstone Panini (50th Anniversary - 1987)

The 1987 Gladstone Golden Anniversary comic book displayed an ad for Panini stickers and a collectors' album. 

Panini sticker advertisement.

Also included were two free packets of stickers tucked into the centerfold of the magazine. Note the Snow White title on the packets is written one in French and the other in Dutch. Panini stickers have been marketed around the globe.

French Packet

Dutch Packet

Packet Back

Images from personal collection.

Overstreet Comic Book Guide (50th Anniversary - 1987)

The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide is considered the authoritative publication on the subject of American comic book grading and pricing. Over its many years, the annual guide book itself has become a collectible item due in part to the dynamic artwork that distinguishes the front cover. Almost exclusively, this artwork has been the domain of the superhero. Featured have been such prototypical characters as Superman, Supergirl, Batman, Batgirl, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman and a host of other comic book icons.

Yet, in the 1987-88 publication, Snow White broke with convention and made it onto the cover, joined by Mickey, Donald and the forest animals. The artwork for this, the 17th edition of the guide, was created by artist Ron Dias (whose work is seen in the previous post on commemorative posters and also on the cover of the Gladstone comic).

Edition 17, ISBN: 0876377460; copyright Robert M. Overstreet, New York: The House of Collectibles, 1987.
First Printing Cover. Image via jbs15.

Two versions of this book were produced, the first without a UPC code (above) was for the direct sales market, i.e., comics shops. The front cover displayed the film title and "Golden Anniversary" tagline in yellow while the "Comic Book" text is red. The second version (below) had a UPC code and was released to the newsstand and new bookstore market. This edition flip-flopped the cover's yellow/red color scheme.

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All page scans from personal collection unless noted.

The back cover promoted the commemorative Gladstone comic which was released after July 1, 1987.

Back Cover with UPC Label.

In addition to the usual comic images and pricing information...

...this edition also contained a page about cover artist Ron Dias. He is shown working on the 50th Anniversary poster from the previous post.

The feature article is a wonderful piece by Terry Taylor on Fifty Years of Collectibles from Snow White. Some great photos...

And finally, as might be expected, the book also contains numerous ads from comic book sellers, buyers and the like. Here's one from an animation artwork dealer.

Thirteen more years would pass before another non-superhero character would be allowed back on the cover of the Overstreet Guide.

Classics Illustrated Junior Comic

The Classics Illustrated Junior No. 501 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was first published in October 1953. The cover price was just .15 cents. Fifty years later, the 32 page anniversary edition was published in 2002/2003 and sold for $3.99 (USD).

For the most part the comic book follows the Disney version of the fairy tale but does includes such details as at the start, Snow White's mother wishing for a child of her own. At the conclusion of the tale, the dwarfs are invited to the wedding of the prince and princess. Also the "Queen became so furious, she went completely mad [and] ran through the forest, never to be seen or heard of again."


Front cover and endpaper...

Pages 1-3...

Pages 28-31...

Pages copyright Classics Illustrated Junior. Images from personal collection.