{{Short description|Various British and US magazines}} {{italic title}} {{about|the collective series of boys' magazines with similar titles|the British magazine published from 1879 to 1967|Boy's Own Paper|the record label|Boy's Own (record label)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} [[File:Boys Own Magazine Feb 1855.jpg|thumb|right|[[Samuel O. Beeton|Beeton]]'s ''Boy's Own Magazine'', published in the UK from 1855 to 1890, was the first and most influential boys' magazine.<ref name=tosh>Tosh, John. [http://www.ampltd.co.uk/collections_az/masc-3/description.aspx ''Masculinity, 1560-1918: Men Defining Men and Gentlemen. Part 3: 1800-1918, Sources from the Bodleian Library, Oxford'']. Adam Matthew Publications.</ref> ]] '''''Boys' Own''''' or ''Boy's Own'' or ''Boys Own'', is the title of a varying series of similarly titled magazines, story papers, and newsletters published at various times and by various publishers, in the United Kingdom and the United States, from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, for preteen and teenage boys.
==History== In 1828 in [[London]], and in 1829 in [[Boston]], US, an encyclopedia for boys by William Clarke was published, titled ''The Boy's Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of all the Diversions, Athletic, Scientific, and Recreative, of Boyhood and Youth''.<ref>Clarke, William. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XiMOAAAAQAAJ ''The Boy's Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of all the Diversions, Athletic, Scientific, and Recreative, of Boyhood and Youth''. Fourth Edition.] Vizetelly, Branston and Co., 1829.</ref> According to sports historian Robert William Henderson, "It was a tremendous contrast to the juvenile books of the period, which emphasised piety, morals and instruction of mind and soul; it must have been received with whoops of delight by the youngsters of both countries."<ref>Henderson, Robert William. [https://books.google.com/books?id=w9ztAAAAMAAJ&q=%22delight+by+the+youngsters+of+both+countries.%22 ''Ball, Bat, and Bishop: The Origin of Ball Games''.] University of Illinois Press, 2001. p. 153.</ref> The encyclopedia was frequently updated and reprinted through the end of the century.
Beginning with [[Samuel Beeton]]'s ''Boy's Own Magazine'', published from 1855 to 1890, the first gender-specific boys' magazines emerged, with the aim of both entertaining and building character.<ref>Phil Stephensen-Payne, [http://www.philsp.com/data/data069.html#BOYSOWNMAGAZINEUK "The Boy's Own Magazine," ''Magazines'']</ref> The fun and educational ''Boys' Own''–type magazines, created by various publishers from 1855 through 1920, helped shape ideas of masculinity in the youth of that period.<ref name=tosh />
Titles of some of the other varying magazine franchises called "Boys Own", which total more than 15 different publications, included ''Boys' Own Journal'', ''Boys' Own Library'', ''Boy's Own Paper'', ''The Boys' Own'', ''Boys' Own Times and News of the World'', etc.<ref>[http://www.philsp.com/data/data080.html#BOYSOWN ''Boys Own'']. Alphabetical listing of various serials under that title – see ''The Boys' Own'' through ''Boys' Own Times and News of the World''.</ref> The most long-lived of the magazines was ''[[Boy's Own Paper]]'', which was published from 1879 until 1967, becoming a British institution. The phrase "real ''Boys Own'' stuff" is still used in Britain to describe exciting feats of derring-do.
==1986 fanzine==
The title ''Boy's Own'' was used for a different type of publication, a fanzine, from 1986 to 1992, publishing two or three thousand copies, founded by [[Andrew Weatherall]], [[Terry Farley]], Steve Mayes, Steve Hall, and Cymon Eckel. It covered football, fashion, music, clubbing, politics and humour. The magazine's crew threw parties, and gave rise to a record label, [[Junior Boy's Own]]. In 2025 a hardback collection of all the fanzines was published.<ref>{{cite news| last=Wray | first=Daniel Dylan | title='It was wonderfully innocent': Boy's Own, the fanzine that defined the acid house generation |newspaper=The Guardian | date=14 February 2025 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/14/boys-own-fanzine-acid-house}}</ref>
==Content== The contents of the various magazine titles consisted largely of boyish and manly fiction and adventure tales. The magazines could also contain nonfiction stories and adventures, nonfiction and how-to instructional articles, and articles similar to scouting or [[Boy Scout]] activities. Contents also included articles on sports, articles on boys school life, and also detective fiction, Western fiction, science fiction, and other genres of interest to boys.
==See also== {{Portal|Children's literature}} *''[[Boys' Life]]'' *[[British boys' magazines]]
==References== {{reflist}}
[[Category:British boys' story papers]] [[Category:Children's magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Weekly magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Defunct magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Magazines published in Boston]] [[Category:Magazines published in London]] [[Category:Magazines established in 1828]] [[Category:Magazines established in 1829]]