# Boys' Own > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Boys'_Own > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Boys'_Own.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys'_Own > Source revision: 1321797287 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Various British and US magazines This article is about the collective series of boys' magazines with similar titles. For the British magazine published from 1879 to 1967, see [Boy's Own Paper](/source/Boy's_Own_Paper). For the record label, see [Boy's Own (record label)](/source/Boy's_Own_(record_label)). [Beeton](/source/Samuel_O._Beeton)'s *Boy's Own Magazine*, published in the UK from 1855 to 1890, was the first and most influential boys' magazine.[1] ***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](/source/London), and in 1829 in [Boston](/source/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*.[2] 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."[3] The encyclopedia was frequently updated and reprinted through the end of the century. Beginning with [Samuel Beeton](/source/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.[4] 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.[1] 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.[5] The most long-lived of the magazines was *[Boy's Own Paper](/source/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](/source/Andrew_Weatherall), [Terry Farley](/source/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](/source/Junior_Boy's_Own). In 2025 a hardback collection of all the fanzines was published.[6] ## 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](/source/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 - [Children's literature portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Children%27s_literature) - *[Boys' Life](/source/Boys'_Life)* - [British boys' magazines](/source/British_boys'_magazines) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-tosh_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-tosh_1-1) Tosh, John. [*Masculinity, 1560-1918: Men Defining Men and Gentlemen. Part 3: 1800-1918, Sources from the Bodleian Library, Oxford*](http://www.ampltd.co.uk/collections_az/masc-3/description.aspx). Adam Matthew Publications. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Clarke, William. [*The Boy's Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of all the Diversions, Athletic, Scientific, and Recreative, of Boyhood and Youth*. Fourth Edition.](https://books.google.com/books?id=XiMOAAAAQAAJ) Vizetelly, Branston and Co., 1829. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Henderson, Robert William. [*Ball, Bat, and Bishop: The Origin of Ball Games*.](https://books.google.com/books?id=w9ztAAAAMAAJ&q=%22delight+by+the+youngsters+of+both+countries.%22) University of Illinois Press, 2001. p. 153. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Phil Stephensen-Payne, ["The Boy's Own Magazine," *Magazines*](http://www.philsp.com/data/data069.html#BOYSOWNMAGAZINEUK) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [*Boys Own*](http://www.philsp.com/data/data080.html#BOYSOWN). Alphabetical listing of various serials under that title – see *The Boys' Own* through *Boys' Own Times and News of the World*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Wray, Daniel Dylan (February 14, 2025). ["'It was wonderfully innocent': Boy's Own, the fanzine that defined the acid house generation"](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/14/boys-own-fanzine-acid-house). *The Guardian*. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Boys' Own](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys'_Own) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys'_Own?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.