Young Folks
Former editorsJames Henderson
Clinton Leighton
Richard Quittenton (Roland Quiz)
FounderJames Henderson
Founded1871
First issue1 January 1871 (1871-01-01)
Final issue29 April 1897; 126 years ago (1897-04-29)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Young Folks was a weekly children's literary magazine published in the United Kingdom between 1871 and 1897. Its publishing office was initially in Manchester, then relocated to London in 1873.[1] It is most notable for having first published a number of novels by Robert Louis Stevenson in serial form, including Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Black Arrow.

It enjoyed a wide demographic appeal, as the test of time as shown, unique compared to contemporary publications. First sold for one half-penny with eight pages, the price was increased to one penny in 1873 and the page count increased to sixteen. Its motto was To Inform, To Instruct, To Amuse.[2]

Young Folks went under a number of different names in its 26-year history:

The proprietor and sometimes editor of the magazine was James Henderson. Young Folks serialised Treasure Island in Volumes 19 and 20 from 1 October 1881 to 28 January 1882.[3] It ran under the title Treasure Island; or, the mutiny of the Hispaniola and under the pseudonym Captain George North. It made little difference to the sales of the magazine.[3] Robert Leighton recalled that: "The boy readers did not like the story. As a serial it was a failure. Boys like a story to plunge at once into the active excitement . . ."[4]

The Black Arrow—published under the same pseudonym—was serialised between 30 June and 30 October 1883. As a serial it was, unlike Treasure Island, a huge success.[1] Kidnapped was serialised in the magazine from May to July 1886.

Editors

Editor's name Years
Robert Leighton[5] 1884–85

Other editors were Clinton Leighton and Richard Quittenton[2] (22 November 1833 – 23 January 1914) who wrote under the pseudonym Roland Quiz and worked on the magazine for 42 years.[6]

Artists

John Proctor (AKA 'Puck') was a regular contributor in the 1870s.

References

  1. ^ a b Robert Louis Stevenson; John Sutherland (27 September 2007). "The Composition and Publication of the Black Arrow". The Black Arrow. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-190524-2.
  2. ^ a b c d Laurel Brake; Marysa Demoor (2009). Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press. p. 474. ISBN 978-90-382-1340-8.
  3. ^ a b Frederick Joseph Harvey Darton (3 November 2011). Children's Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life. Cambridge University Press. p. 302. ISBN 978-1-108-03381-7.
  4. ^ Steuart, John Alexander (1928). "Unromantic Reality and Some Engaging Philosophy". Robert Louis Stevenson : a critical biography. p. 382. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  5. ^ "LEIGHTON, Robert". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 1044.
  6. ^ Tres, Mark. "Roland Quiz: Pseudonym of the author Richard Martin Howard Quittenton". Benfleet Community Archive. Retrieved 9 April 2020.

Further reading

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