Travel in Juvenile Periodicals: BOP and GOP

Children and adolescents were part of the expansion of travel during the second half of the nineteenth century, and juvenile periodicals helped to familiarise a new generation with the idea and practice of travel. The two periodicals at the centre of this chapter, the Boy’s Own Paper (founded in 1879) and the Girl’s Own Paper (founded in 1880), were widely read by young middle-class people. The former engaged with travel in a textual and pictorial environment preoccupied with masculine adventure and athleticism and encouraged boys’ independent travel. The latter illustrates how girls’ periodicals of the late nineteenth century explored new possibilities for women, including travel, while staying aware of the ambivalences that continued to define female life. GOP reminded young women that they had to struggle for the right to travel independently, but it also showed them how this could be done. Thus, despite their gendered biases in the presentation of travel, boys’ and girls’ magazines together created a new generation of confident travellers.