https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/confessions-collector-misdemeanours-comic-book-addiction
...and here's the introduction to these posts on the V&A website:
Confessions of Collector - Misdemeanours of a Comic Book Addiction
This is a serialisation of the memoirs of Ian Rakoff, screenwriter, film
editor and comic book collector. Ian grew up in the 1940s and 50s under
apartheid in South Africa. He started collecting comic books as a child, much
to his Mother’s disapproval. Forced to give up his childhood collection to go
to university, Ian then began collecting again years later following a move to
England… In 1990, the National Art Library at the V&A purchased the Rakoff Collection of Comics. This major acquisition contained some 17,000 items amassed by the film writer/editor Ian Rakoff. The collection provides a comprehensive tapestry of 20th-century comics, charting their growth from the newspaper strips of the first years of this century to the New Wave comics of the 1980s.
The collection consists predominantly of 4-colour American comic books, but examples of other formats and ‘national schools’ are also represented. Most of the items are original, though some reprints are also included. Please see the Comics page for more information about other collections in the National Art Library.
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Over the next few weeks, a copy will be made of those posts on this blog, to make it easier for people to find those pieces of writing about my history in comics!
