Story Papers ATOS 10.66

Story Papers

By: Rusty Perez

A story paper was a periodical published weekly or monthly containing primarily stories and illustrations meant for the entertainment and education of English boys. Besides stories, these papers often contained poems, puzzles, activities and games. The first publication later known as a story paper was The Young Gentleman's Magazine, published in 1777. The first story paper to really become popular was The Boys' and Girls' Penny Magazine, first published in September 1832. These publications contained stories of adventure and articles often meant for boys and young men, but, of course, read likely by girls also.

During the Victorian Era in the 1800's, a rise in literacy made it attractive for authors to publish their novels chapter by chapter, week by week, in these periodicals. They often serialized novels, and, if an author or a particular series was popular, an author would drag out a novel for many weeks or months since the more an author could write, the more money he would earn. Many authors got their start in this way because they would be introduced to more readers by these magazines. For example, Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers, which was first published in 1836, was very successful and inspired the similar publication of many other serialized novels.

These stories were often thought of as sensational and cheap, but many well known writers thought of today as part of classic literature got their start in this way. A reader who could not afford to buy an entire book could afford to purchase the novel one installment at a time by buying a weekly paper. Well known writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his stories of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in these publications.

Later attempts to improve the content of these publications included Nature stories, articles about the customs of different people and lands, and many other topics thought morally instructive and interesting to English youth. There were articles about the heroes of the day, soldiers in the 1800's sports heroes and popular celebrities in the early to mid 1900's.

The majority of these story papers were published in England and in other territories dominated by England. They often promoted an English way of life and English patriotism. At first, these English story papers were published in America as well, but when truly American authors increased in number, their work was published in periodical and magazine form. Only the best writers, able to keep readers interested in purchasing a magazine week after week, were published in these magazines and papers because many more people would buy the magazines. A less popular writer had no other choice than to publish their own book instead of being chosen for publication in a magazine.

One of the most popular and long lived of the children's magazines was Chatter Box. It was published from 1866 to 1948. It was the second children's magazine established by Rev. J. Erskine Clarke, a clergyman and author in England in the 19th century. With the help of a wood engraver named Johnson, and William Macintosh, a publisher in London, the first Chatterbox magazine was available to the public for a halfpenny on the 1st of December, 1866. After they became popular, a publisher would compile an entire year of weekly or monthly issues of one of these magazines in to a book, usually sold around Christmas time. Seventy years later Chatterbox Magazine was being sold in bound annuals and on December 7th, 1936, Time Magazine wrote: "Most famed of British annuals is probably the children's Chatterbox, which for well-brought-up English and American moppets has long been a Christmas staple."

Clarke put an emphasis on illustrations and adventure stories, while providing interesting facts, puzzles, and, to a lesser extent, but nevertheless an important presence, moral instruction. Chatterbox was written to appeal to boys and girls at a time when most children's magazines targeted schoolboys as their primary readers.

These story papers and magazines became less popular after World War II as Television and movies gained in popularity. Some of them survived as comic books but most, like Chatterbox, were discontinued. Chatterbox and other such magazines can be studied today for many reasons: historical ideas of masculinity, femininity, race and class identity, manners, morals, imperialism, heritage, etc. And, some readers may just enjoy the stories and articles.