Category:The Chatterbox

Title: The Chatterbox

Editor: John Erskine Clarke, M.A.

Publisher: W. Wells Gardner

First published in 1866, the weekly journal The Chatterbox stayed in print for almost a century, in both England and the United States. The compilation of short stories, illustrations, poems, and riddles, however, not only targeted youth; its exciting adventures and thought-provoking brainteasers addressed deeper issues that would certainly have intrigued adults as well. Additionally, The Chatterbox kept readers in suspense with its serial narratives that extended for over four issues at times. The anticipation for the following issue also mounted with unsolved riddles whose answers would only be found the next week. Editor John Erskine Clarke later bound and sold these halfpenny issues as annual volumes, which allowed these popular collections to stay preserved in the homes of many middle-class Victorian families.

Submitted by: Lemon, Jessica: section 1, Fall 2007