Boy's Own Paper was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967. A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and adventure stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers. ... A separate article is about the punk band called The Adolescents. ...

Publishing history

The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society as a means to encourage younger children to read and also instill Christian morals during their formative years. The first issue went on sale on January 19, 1879. The Religious Tract Society, founded 1799, a major publisher of Christian literature intended for evangelism, and including literature aimed at children, women, and the poor. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. ... January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1939 it was taken over by Lutterworth Press, and in 1963 by Purnell and Sons Ltd. It was published at the end of its life in 1967 by BPC Publishing Ltd, who are believed to have started publishing the paper in 1965. [1]

The paper was weekly until November 1913, when it became a monthly. In total, 2511 issues of the paper were published. [2]

Contents

Often published were puzzles, adventure stories and essay competitions. One of the stories in the opening issue was a personal reminiscence, "My First Football Match" by Talbot Baines Reed. Reed later became the paper's first assistant editor. An example of a simple puzzle. ... An essay is a short work that treats a topic from an authors personal point of view, often taking into account subjective experiences and personal reflections upon them. ... Editing is the process of preparing language, images, or sound for publication through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications. ...

The paper initially attempted to appeal to boys of all classes, but by the 1890s began to concentrate on boys from wealthier backgrounds, for example by regularly featuring stories set in grammar schools.

Famous contributors

Many famous authors contributed to the paper. W.G. Grace wrote for several issues, along with Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne and R.M. Ballantyne. Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout Movement, was a regular columnist and urged readers to live "to live clean, manly and Christian lives". William Gilbert Grace (July 18, 1848–October 23, 1915) was an English cricketer who, by his extraordinary skills, made cricket perhaps the first modern spectator sport, and who developed most of the techniques of modern batting. ... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. ... Jules Verne. ... RM Ballantyne (April 24, 1825 – February 8, 1894), Scottish juvenile fiction writer, Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, Scotland he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. ... Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB (February 22, 1857 - January 8, 1941) was a soldier, writer and founder of the world scouting movement. ... Scouting is a worldwide youth organization. ...

List of editors

• 1879 – 1897: James Macaulay (Supervising Editor)
• 1879 – 1912: George A. Hutchison (Sub-editor/Acting-editor, subsequently Editor)
• 1912 – 1913: George Andrew Hutchison (Consulting Editor)
• 1912 – 1924: Arthur Lincoln Haydon
• 1924 – 1933: Geoffrey Richard Pocklington
• 1933 – 1935: George J.H. Northcroft
• 1935 – 1942: Robert Harding
• 1942 – 1946: Leonard Halls
• 1946 – 1967: Jack Cox

[3]

Other papers of the same title

There was also an American publication named Boys' Own, published by Charles F. Richards, Boston Mass. This weekly started on October 11, 1873 and ran until about December 1876. October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years). ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calaber). ...

Boys' Own Paper was also printed in Toronto by the publisher W. Warwick and Sons. The Papers are actually identical to the British editions, except for a 4 page "cover", which is dated 1 month later than the contents, and which contains ads for Toronto businesses. Examples of these "reprints" have been noted for Aug 1884 and Aug 1885. [4]

In contemporary popular culture

Phrases such as "Boy's Own adventure" are occasionally used to carry the implication of naive imperialism, particularly in the context of military actions. For example one left-wing source described reporting on the Iraq war as "Boys' Own [sic] war pornography" [5]. Imperialism is a policy of extending control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires, either through direct territorial conquest or settlement, or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics and/or economy of other countries. ... Combatants Republic of Iraq (Saddam Hussein regime), Baath Loyalists, Iraqi insurgency United States, United Kingdom, Coalition of the Willing, New Iraqi Army For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation) The Iraq War (2003-present) is an ongoing conflict in Iraq, which began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and...

External links

• Boy's Own Paper at Collecting Books and Magazines, Australia