Figure 1.--This was the last issue of "Chatterbox" published in 1955. Note that the boy pictured wears a red blazer from an exclusive private school. This was not what most British boys wore to school. We wonder if this private school image did not affect the popularity of "Chatterbox". As was copmmonly the case for annuals, the illustrator was not identified. |
Chatterbox was one of the most popular English publications for children.
It was first published December 1, 1866. The last edition was in 1955. Chatterbox was created by the Rev. John Erskine Clarke (1827-1920) of Derby. He also served as the Editor until 1902. Unlike the Boy's Own and Girl's Own, the other best remembered English children's publications, Chatterbox was designed to appeal to boys and girls. Clarke conceived Chatterbox as a weekly paper for children. Given the relative cost of books and magazines in the 19th century, many readers saved the weekly issues and some even had them bound. i>Chatterbox was primarily a story annual and the content varied over time. There were, however, puzzles, poems, interesting facts, and a variety of interesting activities. Chatterbox was lavisgly illustrated, especially after the turn of the 20th century when the technology for lothographic printing improved.
Chatterbox was one of the most popular English publications for children.
It was first published December 1, 1866. The last edition was in 1955 (figure 1). Few publications have a longer uninterupted history. As such it is a wonderful source of information about children's clothes and childhood in general. The fact that it was often lavishly illustrated makes it a particularly useful source of information.
Chatterbox was created by the Rev. John Erskine Clarke (1827-1920) of Derby. He also served as the Editor until 1902. Harvey Darton replaced Clarke as editor in 1902. Clarke decided to persue his religious calling and became the Vicar of Battersea near London and a Canon of Southwark, another London suburb. [Skinner 2]
Unlike the Boy's Own and Girl's Own, the other best remembered English children's publications, Chatterbox was designed to appeal to boys and girls.
Clarke conceived Chatterbox as a weekly paper for children. Given the relative cost of books and magazines in the 19th century, many readers saved the weekly issues and some even had them bound. Many families did not have a great deal of money to buy books and were not disposed to throw away something that could be reused. The saved copies were alkso useful for younger children as they grew up. Clarke began selling such bound editions, but I am not sure just when. For many years Chatterbox annuals were simply a collection of the weeekly issues with no original material, although the covers of the Gardner/Gardner Darton editions were different in the weekly and annual versions. The annuals were popular children's gifts. We notice one inscribed, "To Archie, Xmas 1921 with fondest love and best wishes."
Chatterbox was primarily a story annual and the content varied over time. There were, however, puzzles, poems, interesting facts, and a variety of interesting activities.
A HBC reader reports, "I had look through the 1955 edition of the Chatterbox Annual the cover of which is seen here (figure 1). The content and is pretty much mundane and rather lacking in illustrations. I note there are many short stories where there is interaction between teenage girls and boys and some stories more dedicated to teenage girl readers. i.e. ‘Phillipa on Location’ for girls and ‘Derek’s Amazing Quest’ or boys. The stories are essentially mystery and adventure, first day of the new school term (almost always at private boarding schools), meeting distant cousins for the first time, travels to distant countries (an Uncle who invites his nephew to Kenya) and such like. Interspersed are puzzles, quizzes and hobby features. It’s interesting to note there is no romance interaction between the boys and girls, rather they are pre-occupied in solving mysterious lights in the dark woods and so on.
We have primarily used Chatterbox and other British periodicals as a ource of information on British cjildren's cloting. The illustrations in particular seem a reasonably accurate source of information on children's clothing. Here the publication primarily depicts middle-class children, not the average British child or a range of childrn of different backgrounds. White Chastterbox was primarily for and about British children, there were also some articles and illustrtions depicting children in other countries as well. We are not sure, however, as to the accuracy of these depictions. Asfar a e can tell, they seem as accurate as the depicions of British boys. his is ust a preliminay assessment as outr information is sill quite limited.
We have varying reports as to the illustrayions in Chatterbox. One report indicates that it was lavishly illustrated, especially after the turn of the 20th century when the technology for lothographic printing improved. Illustrations in the 19th century were mostly black and white line drawings. We note the 1908 annual. There is virtually no photographs but many illustrations are in ink and about 8 colour plates and a color cover illustration. Many of the illustrations are noteworthy as they depict boyswear and British school uniforms of the day. The 1921 edition had a color frontispiece and several other color plates plus a great many black and white and engravings in a book of 317 pages. We are unsure about the illustrators as most of the illustrations were unsigned. A HBC reader tells us that the 1955 edition that he has was "rather lacking in illustrations". Normally the illustrators were not idebtified. This was not only in Chatterbox, but in most of the other annuals as well. The illustrations normally depict children from comfortable middle class families and do not refflect a range of childhood experiences. Working class children were rarely depicted.
Gardner/Gardner Darton was the principal publisher, producing Chatterbox for 60 years. The first few editions of Chatterbox was published in London (1866-70) by William Macintosh. Other publishers included: W. Wells Gardner (1870), Wells
Gardner Darton (about 1886), Simpkin Marshall (1929) and finally Dean (about 1936). Curiously, there were two versions of the cover for many years. Well Gardner, presumably to make the annual version more interesting printed two different versions of the cover, one for the weekly edition and a different one for the annual. [Skinner 2]
The basic Chatterbox weekly cost a halfpenny. There was some special 1 penny edition with with a loose color plate. Unfortunately these color plates were not included in the Annual version, thus they are relatively rare. For readers who wanted to collect the weekly editions into annuals, they could purchase a special case which cost 1 shilling.
The basic Chatterbox Annual cost 3 shillings done in "fancy board" and 5 shillings
for the more expensive cloth edition with gilt edges. [Skinner 2]
Chatterbox was clearly a children’s publication. Curiously, many of the adverisments were for adults. Presumably the editors anricipated parents reading the articles to the family, a rather cozy Victorian image. A good example is the advertisement for Tatcho Hair Restorer! It was only the inexpensive 3s editions that had adverisements. The 5s cloth edition was advertisement free, although sometimes there were lists of children’s books at the back. [Skinner 2] The 1921 edition had paste-downs have advertisements for various products. The front board was paper-covered, and show a boy and girl giving a puppy a bath at the beach. The Back board was an advertisment for Pear's Transparent Soap.
The Chatterbox Annual was published in the United States for several years. There was no original American material. The British editions were simply reprinted. The authorized editions were printed by Estes & Lauriat and subsequently Dana Estes, LC Page, and Cupples Leon (NY). In addition therecwerecunauthorized pirate editions in the 1880s. [Skinner 2]
Skinner, Frank 1. Children's Annuals.
Skinner, Frank 2. Children’s Books: The Chatterbox
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