Cine Aventura: Tom Tyler

Definitely one of the rarer items to come from Spain, at least in booklet format, Cine Aventura: El Valiente Tom Tyler was published by Sociedad General Española De Librería in Barcelona, Spain. This is not a film booklet in the style of Biblioteca Films per se, but is rather a brief biography of the star, along with a pulp fiction story, and an illustration of Tom fighting a bandit. The western story herein takes place during the time of President Lincoln. Thus with this addition included in the booklet, it is not quite like the more popular Tras La Pantalla published by Publicaciones Cosmos, also based in Barcelona, but rather something unique which appealed to western fans.

The booklet itself is slightly smaller compared to the size of a Biblioteca Films booklet, being 3 ¾” x 5 ¼” in size. The red and white border of the booklet is decorated with a western theme, and the still of Tom Tyler, seen with Bud Osborne on the cover, is from Tom’s 1930 silent film, “Call of the Desert”. The actual date of publication likely came after 1941 and no later than 1945 due to Tom’s list of credits including “Adventures of Captain Marvel”, which was released that year. Other booklets in this series are dedicated to the following stars: Tom Mix, Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, and Hoot Gibson. At least five issues are known in this series, although it is highly likely the series had a limited number of these small booklets, as well as limited circulation.

According to the Spanish website Sociedad General Española De Librería (SGEL), the company has been in business for over 100 years, founded in 1914 in Barcelona when its origins were in managing bookstores and publishing novels, weekly periodicals, and comics during the 1920's to 1940's. Today, SGEL is a marketing and distribution company based in Madrid.