The Young New Yorker
ADAMS & co., the fourth name under which the members of the Beadle firm operated,
began the publication of a weekly story paper for young men at 98 William Street
on November 25, 1878. It was announced in No. 1 as a paper that was to be: A
respectable paper for respectable readers . . . alive with the interest of all
manly and popular sports, games and pastimes! Brilliant with story, sketch and
serial by the best living writers for boys and young men. With specialties and
departments under the editorship of well-known authorities in America in the
world of sports, exercise and games, embracing base-ball, cricket and football;
swimming, rowing, yachting and skating; fishing, hunting, trapping and camping;
shooting with rifle, revolver and shot-gun; athletics, gymnastics, leaping,
pedestrianism; fencing and broadsword. In brief, everything to entertain, interest,
amuse and instruct our boys and young men.
The paper (Fig. 167) was a large 8-page weekly
sheet, 20 by 14 inches in size, with six illustrations to a number. It had five
columns of closely printed reading matter to the page, but was well printed.
At least two of the eight pages were devoted to sports. The price was five cents
a copy. The heading, The Young New Yorker, a Boys Story Paper and World of
Sport, was used on Nos. 1 to 3, but with No. 4, the words "Boys Story Paper"
were replaced by "Journal of Recreation" (Fig. 168).
This continued to and including No. 15, after which the ornamental foliage in
the background was removed (Fig. 169).
In No. 16, March 8, 1879, on the editorial page, appeared the announcement
that "With the present number of The Young New Yorker, Mr. David Adams,
who has hitherto given special attention to its management, retires therefrom,
in deference to other demands upon his time, and transfers the same to Mr. Frederick
Whittaker, who enters the firm of Adams and Company, and will hereafter conduct
the paper."
The new arrangement apparently did not work out very well, for in No. 21,
April 12, 1879, an editorial said, "Mr. David Adams, having arranged his affairs
so as to be able to give his time to the paper, resumes his post as general
manager of the literary departments, while Captain Whittaker will hereafter
devote himself to work in his special field. Thus the united efforts of both
parties will be directed to making The Young New Yorker the best boys'
paper in the world." Henry Chadwick conducted the sporting page, and there were
short stories by Mayne Reid, Albert Aiken, Arthur Levering, Edward L. Wheeler,
Edward Willett, and many others.
The paper was not a success — perhaps the amount of space devoted to
sports was too great for that day and age when most boys preferred a good story
— and while the paper had promised to give its readers "the romance of
history, travel and adventure, authentic incidents of army and navy life, hunting
adventures, the manners and customs of people of strange countries, the romance
of natural history," it may be that the proportion of fiction was considered
too small. At any rate the paper ended with No. 26, May 17, 1879, and unfinished
stories were continued in No. 483 of the Star Journal.
Copies of the paper are very rare, and a complete set in good condition is
worth between fifty and seventy-five dollars.
In the following list, only the serial stories are given.
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