''Boys' Own'' or ''Boy's Own'' or ''Boys Own'', is the title of a varying series of similarly titled

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

story paper A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers. Also known in Britain as "boys' weeklies", story papers were phenomenally popular ...

s, and

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of ...

s published at various times and by various publishers, in the United Kingdom and the United States, from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, for preteen and teenage boys.

History

In 1828 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and in 1829 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, US, an

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

for boys by William Clarke was published, titled ''The Boy's Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of all the Diversions, Athletic, Scientific, and Recreative, of Boyhood and Youth''. According to sports historian Robert William Henderson, "It was a tremendous contrast to the juvenile books of the period, which emphasized piety, morals and instruction of mind and soul; it must have been received with whoops of delight by the youngsters of both countries." The encyclopedia was frequently updated and reprinted through the end of the century. Beginning with

Samuel Beeton Samuel Orchart Beeton (2 March 1831 – 6 June 1877) was an English publisher, best known as the husband of Mrs Beeton (Isabella Mary Mayson) and publisher of ''Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management''. He also founded and published '' Boy' ...

's ''Boy's Own Magazine'', published from 1855 to 1890, the first gender-specific boys'

s emerged, with the aim of both entertaining and building character. The fun and educational ''Boys' Own''–type magazines, created by various publishers from 1855 through 1920, helped shape ideas of masculinity in the youth of that period. Titles of some of the other varying magazine franchises called "Boys Own", which total more than 15 different publications, included ''Boys' Own Journal'', ''Boys' Own Library'', ''Boy's Own Paper'', ''The Boys' Own'', ''Boys' Own Times and News of the World'', etc.''Boys Own''
Alphabetical listing of various serials under that title – see ''The Boys' Own'' through ''Boys' Own Times and News of the World''. The most long-lived of the magazines was ''

Boy's Own Paper ''The Boy's Own Paper'' was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967. Publishing history The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society, as a means to encourage you ...

'', which was published from 1879 until 1967, becoming a British institution. The phrase "real ''Boys Own'' stuff" is still used in Britain to describe exciting feats of derring-do.

Content

The contents of the various magazine titles consisted largely of boyish and manly

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradi ...

and adventure tales. The magazines could also contain

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

stories and

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

s, nonfiction and

how-to The Linux Documentation Project (LDP) is a dormant an all-volunteer project that maintains a large collection of GNU and Linux-related documentation and publishes the collection online. It began as a way for hackers to share their documentation ...

instructional articles, and articles similar to scouting or

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

activities. Contents also included articles on

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

, articles on

boys school Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

life, and also

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as sp ...

Western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

, and other genres of interest to boys.

References

{{reflist British boys' story papers Children's magazines published in the United States Weekly magazines published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines published in Boston Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1828 Magazines established in 1829

History

Content

See also

References