Whitman Blue book shelf type coin albums

[coinkat]

I am curious as to whether the Whitman blue book shelf coin albums were ever popular in the UK. These were produced by Whitman probably starting in the early 1960s and offhand I have no idea when they may have been discontinued. I know there was a Victorian type set album; a two volume 20th Century type set album; various albums for farthings, 1/2 d and 1 d coins. I believe there were type set albums for Australia, South Africa and possibly Ireland. I have only one… the second volume of the 20th century album that started with Shillings. The Whitman small blue folders were more available back in the day than the book shelf albums. I should also add that the book shelf albums were not inexpensive… I recall seeing the Whitman Victorian type set album as a young lad and could not commit to buying it because it cut into my minimal coin budget… and that was over 50 years ago.

So were these popular back in the day or was there ever a resurgence at a later time?