Annual publication

Some encyclopedias have published annual supplements that essentially summarize the news of the past year, similar to some newspaper yearbooks.

They are handled similar to serial publications, which typically means a single library catalog record for the title, not for individual years.

The mid- and late 20th century saw a sharp increase in the publication of annuals to report scientific results and provide overview, both in ever more specialized topics and in popular summary.

"The Annual" was a long-running fad from 1824 until 1857 which started in England, but spilled over into the U.S. Steel plates of the 1820s allowed book publishers to mass-produce pictures.

The content of the text was often of poor quality and "The American Book of Beauty" contained a story of prison torture with an illustration of a pretty woman with a lapdog.

Two early German titles are Europäischer Geschichtskalender, founded in 1861 by Heinrich Schulthess and Gottlob Egelhaaf's Historisch-politische Jahresübersicht (28 volumes, 1908–1936).

[7] As a result, annuals are much less valuable as collectables than other comic books, since collectors do not view them as part of a complete series run.

[7] Annuals published by DC and particularly Marvel became fewer and far between by the late 1990s, mainly due to the near-collapse of the comic book industry in the wake of the speculator boom; annuals were seen as an unnecessary risk in a climate where many monthly publications were in danger of cancellation for lack of sales (especially at Marvel, which filed for bankruptcy at this time).

[8] In the U.K., a large number of annuals are published shortly before the end of each year by companies such as D. C. Thomson, Egmont (formerly IPC/Fleetway), and Rebellion Developments, aimed at the Christmas market.

Frederic Shoberl was the founding editor of Ackermann's The Forget-me-not, which was an early annual, a then-new type of publication in England.

In addition, annuals are often published centered on sports, toys, currently-popular celebrities, recently released films, and popular TV series.

In the period of the 1950s to the 1980s, companies like World Distributors, Brown Watson, and Grandreams were known for publishing annuals based on licensed characters and properties.

British annuals are also published featuring American characters such as Spider-Man, often with simplified content aimed at younger readers.