Category:Our Boy's Journal

Title: Our Boys’ Journal

Editor: Edwin J. Brett

Publisher: Edwin J. Brett

The first issue of Our Boy’s Journal rolled off the press on August 30, 1876. Touted in the subtitle as “A weekly magazine for every home,” the journal successfully ran until the final issue was published July 12, 1882^[1] The journal was sold for one penny, with compiled volumes covering several months of the journal sold together in a hard binding for two shillings and six pence, or half a crown. For the more than five years that the journal was in print it was edited by Edwin J. Brett. Mr. Brett’s personal concern for the journal was evident in the fact that he was also the journal’s proprietor and publisher. His care for the journal, and more importantly its young readers, can be seen in one of the prefaces Mr. Brett wrote for a volume: “wishing our young friends all prosperity and happiness, the Proprietor subscribes himself Their sincere Friend, Edwin J. Brett.”^[2] The focus and aim of the journal was also appropriately expressed by Brett when he said, “In the forthcoming Volume the same care in the selection of stories of deep interest, and avoidance of all objectionable phrases, which has procured us so much commendation from the parents of “Our Boys,” will be exercised.”^[3] The overall mission was to give young boys in the big city an appropriate literature that instructed, motivated, and inspired. This was accomplished in several ways. The journal inspired young boys to see their potential by including fictional stories about great feats accomplished by young boys, such as “The Blue Coat Boy,” a serial detective story in which the sharp sleuth is a young lad from London, just like the readers. The journal motivated boys to dream of the vast world beyond crowded London by including adventure stories from around the globe like the “Legends of Many Lands” column, and the journal also made sure to include practical advice for things boys could easily do for entertainment such as fishing and taking care of pets. What resulted was an effective piece of penny literature that provided the boys of London a quality source of weekly literature they could call their own.

Notes

1. ↑ WD.
2. ↑ Edwin J. Brett, Our Boys’ Journal 3, 1877, 1, Print.
3. ↑ Brett 1.

Submitted by: Bennett, Andrew: section 1, Winter 2009