Ryan Collection

The Ryan Collection contains more than 1,000 comics, mostly published in Australia and including some overseas titles reprinted in Australia, from the 1940s to 1970s. Also some fanzines published in the United States and Australia, plus personal papers.

Entertainment Literature and writing Visual arts

Key items in the collection

Highlights from this collection demonstrate its historical significance and variety.

The collection is organised into 4 groups:

commercially produced comics and science fiction books (515 titles)
monographs (24 titles)
serials (50 titles)
fanzines
publications of science fiction societies (617 titles).

The bulk of the comics were published in Australia, including overseas titles reprinted in Australia. There are also publications from:

the United States
the United Kingdom
New Zealand
Italy
Spain
Greece
Hong Kong
China
Japan.

Among the Australian artists represented are:

Syd Nicholls
Stan Cross
Emile Mercier
John Dixon
Will Donald
Syd Miller
Stanley Pitt
Alex Gurney
Eric Jolliffe
Jim Bancks
Jim Russell.

The cartoons are seldom dated, mostly appearing between the 1940s and 1970s. A few titles illustrate the range of the collection:

With many titles only a few issues are held in the Ryan collection, but in many cases the Library also holds additional issues in other collections.

The majority of the fanzines were published in the United States, but there are many Australian titles such as:

Anzapa (Australian and New Zealand Amateur Press Association)
Australian Science Fiction Review
Fanarchist
The Mentor
The New Forerunner
Philosophical Gas
Rataplan.

The collection includes a substantial set of correspondence, dating from 1948 to 1979. Most of the letters were written by comic collectors in:

Australia
the United States
South Africa
elsewhere.

In the latter years much of the correspondence concerns Ryan's book Panel by Panel, and includes letters from:

artists
collectors
his publisher.

The collection also contains a large quantity of:

photographs and photocopies of cartoons
notes
artwork
newspaper cuttings
drafts of the book (Panel by Panel).

About John Ryan

John Ryan (1931–1979) was born at Cowra, New South Wales, and spent most of his life in Sydney.

Ryan worked for a large industrial rubber company and from 1970, until his death, he was its sales manager in Brisbane.

Interest in comics

As a boy he had an interest in comics, but he did not become a serious collector until the 1960s. He was particularly interested in collecting comics published in Australia from the 1940s to 1958, when import restrictions were lifted.

Ryan was in regular correspondence with collectors in the United States and elsewhere and contributed to US fanzines.

He was an active member of the Australian and New Zealand Amateur Publishing Association and became involved in the science fiction fandom network.

Publishing the first Australian fanzine

In 1964, Ryan published the first Australian fanzine, Down Under, produced off a spirit duplicator, also known as a Ditto machine.

Awards

He won the American Alley Poll Awards in 1964 and 1967 for his writings on Australian comics.

Author

Ryan was the author of Panel by Panel: A History of Australian Comics (Cassell Australia, Sydney, 1979).

Background to the collection

In 1971 Ryan stated that he would like his comic collection to go to the Library. It was purchased from his widow, Jan Ryan, in 1981 and an addition was bought in 1986.

The entire John Ryan Comic Collection, both printed and manuscript material, is kept together within the Manuscripts Collection at MS 6514. It occupies 68 boxes. Use the finding aid.

This guide was prepared using these references: