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''The Girl's Own Paper'' (''G.O.P.'') was a British
story paper catering to girls and young women, published from 1880 until 1956.
Publishing history
The first weekly number of ''The Girl's Own Paper'' appeared on 3 January 1880. As with its male counterpart ''
The 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 yo ...
'', the magazine was published by the
Religious Tract Society
The Religious Tract Society was a British evangelical Christian organization founded in 1799 and known for publishing a variety of popular religious and quasi-religious texts in the 19th century. The society engaged in charity as well as commerci ...
(which subsequently became
Lutterworth Press
The Lutterworth Press, one of the oldest independent British publishing houses, has traded since the late eighteenth century - initially as the Religious Tract Society (RTS). The Lutterworth imprint, named after the small English town of Lutte ...
). It was sold at a price of 1
penny.
In October 1929, the title became ''The Girl's Own Paper and Woman's Magazine'' but in 1930 the ''Woman's Magazine'' became a separate publication. In December 1947 the name was changed to ''The Girl's Own Paper and Heiress''. By 1951 it was called ''Heiress incorporating the Girl's Own Paper''. In 1956 ''Heiress'' closed down, and the name "Girl's Own Paper" ceased to exist. Facsimile reprints of volume 1 to 4 were published by Eureka Press, Japan, in 2006. Several editions are available online from
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...
.
Contents
The
story paper provided a mix of stories and educational and improving articles, with 'Answers to Correspondents' and occasional coloured plates, poetry and music. The paper funded and serialised the exploits of the explorer
Kate Marsden
Kate Marsden (13 May 1859 – 26 May 1931) was a British missionary, explorer, writer and nurse. Supported by Queen Victoria and Empress Maria Feodorovna she investigated a cure for leprosy. She set out on a round trip from Moscow to Siberia to ...
in the 1890s when she was lauded by the Royal Geographical Society.
For the first 30 years, the weekly and later monthly issues included an unusual amount of music content, including musical scores by women composers. Judith Barger has produced a catalogue and discussed how the material reflected a gradual change in the perception of women's music making, from amateur accomplishment towards more professional roles.
From 1908, the weekly magazines were dropped and the paper included more information on serious careers for girls and advice on style and dress. Long serials became less common, being replaced by shorter stories. From the 1930s, a greater proportion of its material was directed at younger readers. There were
school stories, stories of kidnapped princesses and articles about
film stars, although the contents became more serious during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Volumes 39 and 40 of 1917–18 were entitled ''The Girls Own Paper'' and ''Woman's Magazine''; presumably the two publications were merged for economy purposes as a result of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Famous contributors
Many contributors are unknown outside the ''G.O.P.'' pages, but they include
Noel Streatfeild
Mary Noel Streatfeild Order of the British Empire, OBE (24 December 1895 –11 September 1986) was an English author, best known for children's books including the "Shoes" books, which were not a series (though some books made references to ...
,
Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd (January 31, 1868 – March 18, 1942) was an early 20th-century American author. She published at least 10 novels, mostly written for young women.
Childhood
Eleanor was born at Plum Grove Historic House in Iowa City, Iow ...
,
Rosa Nouchette Carey,
Sarah Doudney (1841–1926),
Angela Brazil
Angela Brazil (pronounced "brazzle") (30 November 186813 March 1947) was one of the first British writers of "modern schoolgirls' stories", written from the characters' point of view and intended primarily as entertainment rather than moral ins ...
,
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with ''Anne of Green Gables''. She ...
,
Richmal Crompton
Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969) was a popular English writer, best known for her ''Just William'' series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.
Life
Richmal Crompton Lambu ...
,
Fanny Fern
Fanny Fern (born Sara Payson Willis; July 9, 1811 – October 10, 1872), was an American novelist, children's writer, humorist, and newspaper columnist in the 1850s to 1870s. Her popularity has been attributed to a conversational style and sense ...
,
Baroness Orczy
Baroness Emma Orczy (full name: Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci) (; 23 September 1865 – 12 November 1947), usually known as Baroness Orczy (the name under which she was published) or to her family and friends as Em ...
, and
Norma Lorimer.
Between 1889 and 1901, the leading illustrator
Henry William Brewer provided regular articles for the paper, often richly illustrated by his own drawings. Subjects included Interesting Monuments of Distinguished Women (1889), The Castle of Cleve and the 'Magic Swan' (1890), The Largest Churches in Europe (1891), Archeology for Girls (1895), Typical Church Towers of English Counties (1895), Old English Cottage Homes (1899), and Site Base Support and Superstructure – Ancient and Modern Methods of Building (1901).
The writer and novelist
John Francis Brewer, son of
Henry William Brewer also contributed to the paper. In
1887-88 he collaborated with the editor, Charles Peters, describing in articles trips they had taken together in Norway, northern Italy and central Italy.
Between 1940 and 1947
Captain W. E. Johns contributed sixty stories featuring the female pilot
Worrals
Flight Officer Joan Worralson, better known as "Worrals", is a fictional character created by W. E. Johns, more famous for his series of books about the airman Biggles.
Worrals was a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in the Second ...
.
List of editors
* Charles Peters 1880–1907
*
Flora Klickmann 1908–1931
* Gladys Spratt and others 1931–1956
Role in popular culture
In her history of the ''G.O.P.'', E Honor Ward writes: "The G.O.P. was an important and positive influence on generations of girls and women, and a vital outlet for women's writing and ideas, for more than three-quarters of a century".
References
Further reading
*Doughty, Terri. ''Selections from the Girl's Own Paper, 1880-1907''. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2004.
*Forrester, Wendy: ''Great Grandmama's Weekly: A Celebration of the "Girl's Own Paper", 1880-1901'', Lutterworth Press, 1988,
External links
*
''The Girl's Own Paper'' Index lutterworth.com. Index to issues (1880-1941), background information, reading list, online resources.
* E. Honor Ward
About the ''Girl's Own Paper'' lutterworth.com.
''The Girl's Own Paper'': A Paper for Young Women and their Mothers Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals: 1800-1900, victorianperiodicals.com.
Article Index by Magazine victorianvoices.net - Collection of excerpts scanned from issues of ''The Girl's Own Paper'' (1880-1902).
Highlights From ''The Girl's Own Paper''Growing archive of illustration scans and transcripts of articles and "Answers to Correspondents" from Victorian and Edwardian issues of ''The Girl's Own Paper'' (1880-1912).
''The Girl's Own Paper'' gutenberg.org - 25 copies of ''The Girl's Own Paper'', including illustrations.
The Girl's Own Paper archive at Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girl's Own Paper, The
Children's magazines published in the United Kingdom
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1880
Magazines disestablished in 1956