''The Halfpenny Marvel'' was a British story paper for children of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, published by

Amalgamated Press The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...

Overview

''The Halfpenny Marvel'' was the first of Alfred Harmsworth's story papers aimed at putting the "

penny dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular serial literature produced during the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typically referred to ...

s" out of business by producing "pure, healthy literature" at a cheaper price. Begun in 1893, the magazine was named ''The Halfpenny Marvel Library''. The magazine was renamed ''the Halfpenny Marvel'' after three issues. Early issues contained a long, complete tale and as many as three or four shorter ones (of very short length). These short stories would later be replaced by installments of serial stories. An editorial page also appeared in most (but not all) issues, and dealt with upcoming stories as well as providing the reader with interesting facts. In the late 1890s the editorial page was used by "Pimple the orfis boy", providing comic relief with his badly-written tales. The stories were in the '' Boys Own'' genre, and often involved travel in foreign lands and the British Empire, often with quite jingoistic content, even by the standards of the day. Stories most often stood alone, but occasionally a character would recur in multiple issues, though the stories would be complete in each one. Occasional issues featured detective stories, and Volume 1, Issue 6, published in December, 1893 introduced detective

Sexton Blake Sexton Blake is a fictional character, a detective who has been featured in many British comic strips, novels and dramatic productions since 1893. Sexton Blake adventures were featured in a wide variety of British and international publications ...

to the world in a story named ''The Missing Millionaire''. Issue 46, published in September, 1894, introduced detective Nelson Lee in a story named ''A Dead Man's Secret''. Early covers were two-colour, often orange and black. However, before long only one colour was used on the cover, most often dark blue. In 1898 the magazine was renamed as ''The Marvel'', though still cost a halfpenny. In 1904 the paper was re-launched by

(with a new issue 1) as a one-penny paper, still named ''The Marvel''. The magazine folded in 1922. ''The Halfpenny Marvel'' is referenced by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

in the short story " An Encounter", part of Joyce's ''

Dubliners ''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were writ ...

''. This magazine, as well as ''Union Jack'' and ''Pluck'' are mentioned as highly popular among Dublin schoolboys of the time, who are especially attached to the

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

stories published there. In one scene, a teacher is extremely annoyed when catching a pupil reading during the lesson an issue of ''The Halfpenny Marvel'' containing a story entitled "The Apache Chief".

References

{{Portal, Children and Young Adult Literature

External links

Issues of The Halpenny Marvel at the Friardale Website

1893 establishments in the United Kingdom 1922 disestablishments in the United Kingdom British boys' story papers Children's magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1893 Magazines disestablished in 1922 Publications of Sexton Blake