A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a
literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...
, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers. Also known in Britain as "boys' weeklies", story papers were phenomenally popular before the outbreak of the
Second World War
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 opposin ...
.
Among the most well-known British story papers was ''
Boy's Own Paper'', which ran from 1879 to 1967.
Beginnings
The first known edition of what would later become known as a "story paper" was ''The Young Gentleman's Magazine'', published in 1777. The first story paper to really take off was ''The Boys' and Girls' Penny Magazine'', first published in September 1832.
In 1866, Charles Stephens began selling ''Boys of England'' on the English streets for a penny—the first "
penny dreadful". Story papers in this style minimized the expense of writing in order to produce an extremely cheap product. Strictly speaking, the "penny dreadful" died off by the turn of the century, but this term was still used to refer to story papers throughout their history. The ''
Halfpenny Marvel
''The Halfpenny Marvel'' was a British story paper for children of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, published by Amalgamated Press. Overview
''The Halfpenny Marvel'' was the first of Alfred Harmsworth's story papers aimed at putting the ...
'', first published in 1893, was "founded to counteract the pernicious influences of the Penny Dreadfuls", according to its title page. A book about these weeklies (also called "bloods" because of their savage contents) was created in 1948 by
E. S. Turner
Ernest Sackville Turner (17 November 1909 – 6 July 2006) was an English freelance journalist and writer who wrote 20 published books, including ''Boys Will Be Boys'' (Michael Joseph, 1948), ''The Phoney War on the Home Front'' (St. Martin's ...
, called ''Boys Will be Boys''.
Golden Age
Denis Gifford designated the period between
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 ...
and
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 opposin ...
as the "Golden Age" of story papers. Sales of the story papers were at their highest during these years, as were the fecundity of the authors, the range in genre of magazines, and the colourful variety of the heroes. The most famous story paper hero,
Sexton Blake, reached his apex during these years.
World War II caused chaos in Britain, and among other things the story papers had to be shut down as funds were redirected to the war. This is known as the ''Dark Ages'' for story papers, and nearly all of the papers ceased printing in 1939 or 1940.
Silver Age and modern comics
In the 1950s and 1960s, some story papers such as ''
The Rover'' briefly flourished, but television had a growing influence on the attentions of British children. Mergers between publishing houses finished off the remaining story papers, or modified them to become comic books, in the 1970s. ''The Rover'' was the last survivor and ceased publishing in 1973.
Format and politics
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
's essay, ''
Boys' Weeklies'', outlines the general themes of the story paper in the "Golden Age". As far as Orwell could tell, Britain was the only country in Europe in which story papers were produced. ''
The Gem'' and ''
The Magnet'', the oldest of their kind, featured school serials always centred on a group of characters any reader could identify with. More recent story papers focused on adventure and intrigue, and had a large teenage readership.
According to Orwell, all of the English papers published at the time were stuck in the 1910s and had an underlying conservative slant, which taught children to be deferential to the upper-class. He suggested socialist values could be just as exciting if they followed the story paper format.
There were story papers for children of both sexes, although there was a broad overlap in the actual readership of the two.
List of story papers
UK
*''
Adventure''
*''
Aunt Judy's Magazine''
*''
Big Budget''
*''
Boy's Best Story Paper''
*''
Boys' Broadcast''
*''
Boy's Champion''
*''
The Boys' Friend
''The Boys' Friend'' was a British story paper of the early 20th century, published by Amalgamated Press from 1895 to 1927.
Overview
''The Boys' Friend'' was a large, tabloid-sized story paper priced one penny (later 2d)."The Boys' Friend," ''Col ...
''
*''
Boys' Magazine''
*''
Boys of England''
*''
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 you ...
''
*''
The Boys' Herald
''The Boys' Herald'' (subtitled: ''A Healthy Paper for Manly Boys'') was a boy's story paper published by Amalgamated Press in England from 1903. It was a companion paper to ''The Boys' Friend'' and The Boys' Realm. It mostly ran adventure stori ...
''
* ''
The Boys' Leader
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''
*''
The Boys' Realm
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''
*''
Bullseye''
*''
The Captain
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''
*''
The Champion''
*''
The Children's Friend
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''
*''
Chums''
*''
Dixon Hawke Library''
*''
The Dreadnought''
*''
The Empire''
*''
The Gem''
*''
Girl's Best Friend''
*''
Girls' Crystal
''Girls' Crystal'' was a British weekly story paper and then a comic book published by Amalgamated Press (AP) that ran from 1935 to 1963. Along with ''School Friend'' and ''Girl'', it was one of the first British girls' comics.
Publication histo ...
''
*''
The Girl's Home''
*''
The Girl's Own Paper''
*''
Girl's Reader''
*''
The Girl's Realm
''The Girl's Realm'' was a sixpenny monthly magazine, published by Hutchinson that ran for seventeen volumes from November 1898 to November 1915.
Publishing history
In August 1898 it was announced that Hutchinson was to launch a magazine for yo ...
''
*''
Girl's Weekly''
*''
The Greyfriars Herald''
*''
The Hotspur''
*''
Halfpenny Marvel
''The Halfpenny Marvel'' was a British story paper for children of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, published by Amalgamated Press. Overview
''The Halfpenny Marvel'' was the first of Alfred Harmsworth's story papers aimed at putting the ...
''
*''
Jabberwock
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865). The bo ...
''
*''
The Jester''
*''
Joker''
*''
Lion (boys' magazine)''
*''
The Magnet''
*''
The Marvel''
*''
The Modern Boy
''The Modern Boy'' (later ''Modern Boy'') was a British boys' magazine published between 1928 and 1939 by the Amalgamated Press. It ran to some 610 issues. It was first launched on 11 February 1928 and cost 2d (two old pence, when there were 24 ...
''
*''
Nelson Lee Library''
*''
Our Girls''
*''
Pals''
*''
Peg's Paper''
*''
The Penny Popular''
*''
The Pilot
A pilot is a person who flies or navigates an aircraft.
Pilot or The Pilot may also refer to:
* Maritime pilot, a person who guides ships through hazardous waters
* Television pilot, a television episode used to sell a series to a television netw ...
''
*''
Pluck
Pluck or plucking may refer to:
Removal
* Plucking (hair removal), the removal of hair, fur, or feathers
* Feather-plucking, a behavior in birds
* Plucking post, as used by birds of prey to dismember their prey
* Plucking (glaciation), a process ...
''
*''
Public School Magazine
''Public School Magazine'' was a short-lived magazine for boys. It was started in 1898 by publishing company Adam and Charles Black and appeared monthly until March 1902, when it ceased publication, the copyright being sold to rival publisher Geo ...
''
*''
The Ranger''
*''
Red Arrow''
*''
The Rover''
*''
School and Sport''
*''
School Friend
''School Friend'' was the name of two different British weekly publications marketed toward girls, both of which were pioneering in their respective categories. The first ''School Friend'', published from 1919 to 1929, was the first story paper ...
''
*''
Schoolgirls' Own
The ''Schoolgirls' Own'' was a British weekly story paper aimed at girls. Published by , it was launched in February 1921 and ran for 798 issues until May 1936, when it was merged with a sister publication.
The main feature centred on the Mo ...
''
*''
Schooldays''
*''
The Schoolgirl''
*''
Schoolgirls' Weekly''
*''
Scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
''
*''
The Sexton Blake Library
''The Sexton Blake Library'' was a story paper of the first two-thirds of the 20th century, published by Amalgamated Press. It featured the adventures of private detective Sexton Blake, his boy assistant Tinker and their dog Pedro.
Overview
By t ...
''
*''
The Skipper
The Skipper is the title and nickname of Jonas Grumby, a fictional character from the 1960s situation comedy '' Gilligan's Island''. Played by Alan Hale Jr., the Skipper (the character's actual name was rarely mentioned after the show's pilot epis ...
''
*''
Startler''
*''
The Thriller''
*''
Tip Top''
*''
The Triumph''
*''
Union Jack
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
''
*''
The Vanguard''
*''
The Wizard
Wizard, the wizard, or wizards may refer to:
* Wizard (fantasy), a fictional practitioner of magic
* Wizard (supernatural), a practitioner of magic
Art, entertainment and media Fictional characters
* Wizard (Archie Comics), a comic book super ...
''
*''
Young England magazine
''Young England: A Illustrated Magazine for Boys Throughout the English-Speaking World'' is a British story paper that was published from 1880 until 1937 and aimed at a similar audience to the ''Boy's Own Paper''.
Publishing history
The paper ...
''
*''
Young Folks''
Ireland
*''
Our Boys
''Our Boys'' is a comedy in three acts written by Henry James Byron, first performed in London on 16 January 1875 at the Vaudeville Theatre. Until it was surpassed by the run of ''Charley's Aunt'' in the 1890s, it was the world's longest-runn ...
'' (Ireland)
Australia
*''
The Silver Jacket''
See also
*
Penny dreadful
*
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
*
Dime novel
*
History of the British comic
References
{{Reflist
External links
British Juvenile Story Papers and Pocket Libraries IndexBritish Story Papers Flickr GroupUniversity of Minnesota Hess Collection: Story Papers 1850-1910
Periodicals
British children's literature
British culture
Magazine genres