# Edwin Brett > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Edwin_Brett > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Edwin_Brett.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Brett > Source revision: 1296020162 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Edwin John Brett** (1828–1895) was a Victorian editor and publisher of boys' magazines, [romantic fiction](/source/Romantic_fiction) and "[penny dreadfuls](/source/Penny_dreadfuls)" who pioneered the weekly format of serialised and sensational fiction.[1] ## Early life Edwin Brett was born in White Horse Lane, [Canterbury](/source/Canterbury), the son of Thomas Brett (c.1777–1867), an army officer, and his wife, Mary. At fourteen he was [apprenticed](/source/Apprenticed) to a local [watchmaker](/source/Watchmaker), but soon moved to [London](/source/London), where he was employed as an artist-[engraver](/source/Engraver) and joined a radical [Chartist](/source/Chartism) circle that included [Feargus O'Connor](/source/Feargus_O'Connor), [Charles Cochrane](/source/Charles_Cochrane_(social_reformer)), [George William MacArthur Reynolds](/source/George_William_MacArthur_Reynolds) and [George Augustus Sala](/source/George_Augustus_Sala), the latter two becoming lifelong friends.[1][2] ## Career Brett entered into an informal partnership with [Ebenezer Landells](/source/Ebenezer_Landells) (1808-1860), the [Newcastle](/source/Newcastle_upon_Tyne) artist engraver, small publisher and one of the moving forces behind the satirical magazine *[Punch](/source/Punch_(magazine))*.[1] In September 1860 Brett attempted a take-over of the editorship of the *Illustrated Inventor* published by his professional [mentor](/source/Mentor), the Liberal MP [Herbert Ingram](/source/Herbert_Ingram), but was thwarted when Ingram and his son drowned in an excursion ship collision on [Lake Michigan](/source/Lake_Michigan).[1] In 1864, together with the publisher William Laurence Emmett, he took over the *English Girl's Journal and Ladies' Magazine*, from the publisher Edward Harrison,[3] which folded the following year.[1] The failure of this partnership was to lead to an intense publishing rivalry between Emmett and Brett. After unsuccessfully experimenting with a couple of small format weeklies, *The Boys' Companion and British Traveller* and *The Boys' Own Reader*, Brett joined the Newsagents' Publishing Company (NPC) at 147 [Fleet Street](/source/Fleet_Street), where, with aggressive marketing and shrewd identification of his target readership, he pioneered a series of best-selling boys' [periodicals](/source/Periodicals). Under his management the NPC developed a new sub-genre in sensational '[penny-dreadful](/source/Penny-dreadful)' fiction featuring young heroes in tales which were often brutal, glamorising [highwaymen](/source/Highwaymen) and [burglars](/source/Burglars).[1][2] In 1866 he started his own periodical, *[Boys of England](/source/Boys_of_England)*, at 173 [Fleet Street](/source/Fleet_Street), a weekly magazine blending thrilling fiction and factual articles which was published for 33 years. Articles exhorted boys to participate in healthy outdoor games and to contribute some of their [pocket money](/source/Pocket-money) to the journal's [lifeboat](/source/Lifeboat_(rescue)) fund which purchased the first [Southend](/source/Southend) Lifeboat in 1879 (Brett named the vessel after the magazine and himself).[4] Later that year he signed the adventure novelist Captain [Thomas Mayne Reid](/source/Thomas_Mayne_Reid) as a regular contributor following his bankruptcy. In 1868 Brett targeted a slightly older readership with *Young Men of Great Britain*, a 'healthy, moral, instructive and amusing companion for every age', which lasted four years. In the 1870s Brett expanded into popular [romantic fiction](/source/Romantic_fiction) with titles such as *Wedding Bells* (1870–79), *Something to Read* (1881–99), *English Ladies' Novelettes* (1891–2) and *Princesses' Novelettes* (1893-1904).[1][2] ## Personal life On 4 January 1849 he married Eliza (1832–1893), daughter of Henry Archer, a [Clerkenwell](/source/Clerkenwell) butcher and they divided their time between two residences, Burleigh House, at 342 Camden Road, and Oaklands, on the [Isle of Thanet](/source/Isle_of_Thanet). Financial success allowed him to indulge his passion for [arms and armour](/source/Arms_and_armour), and over thirty years he acquired nearly a thousand items of [militaria](/source/Militaria). Following the death of his wife on 30 May 1893, he devoted his time to his collection, publishing a lavishly illustrated catalogue in 1894 entitled *Ancient Arms and Armour, collected and described by Edwin J Brett*, which formed the basis of the [Christie's](/source/Christie's) catalogue when he sold most of the collection at auction on 18 March 1895 for £11,773.[1][2] [Bonhams](/source/Bonhams) sold a portrait of Brett at auction on 26th Nov 2014, along with a copy of Brett's illustrated *Ancient Arms and Armour*.[5] After a long illness Brett died at Burleigh House on 15 December 1895, leaving an estate worth £76,538 to his nine children.[1] The majority of his publishing empire was left to his eldest sons, Edwin Charles and Edgar Percy, who continued to manage its titles until the business collapsed in 1909.[2] Brett was buried in the family vault in [Highgate cemetery](/source/Highgate_cemetery) on 19 December 1895. ## References 1. Springhall, John (1990). ["A Life Story for the People"? Edwin J. Brett and the London "Low-Life" Penny Dreadfuls of the 1860s"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3828357). *Victorian Studies*. **33** (2): 223–246. Indiana University Press. [JSTOR 3828357](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3828357). Retrieved 2 February 2021. 1. Sweet, Matthew (23 September 2004). "Brett, Edwin John". 61386. Retrieved 2 February 2021 1. ["Price one Penny"](http://www.priceonepenny.info/database/show_publisher.php?publisher_id=101). *www.priceonepenny.info*. Retrieved 2 February 2021. 1. ["Safe at Sea"](https://web.archive.org/web/20101206112414/http://www.southendtimeline.com/1879.htm). *www.southendtimeline.com*. Archived from [the original](https://www.southendtimeline.com/1879.htm) on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2021. 1. ["A Portrait Of Edwin J. Brett After E. Gustave Girardot"](https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21639/lot/254/). *www.bonhams.com*. Retrieved 2 February 2021. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edwin Brett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Brett) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Brett?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.