FARLEY, Terry and WEATHERALL, Andy. Boy’s Own.

(London), 1988–1992. First edition. Softcover. Eight issues. Each approx. 29.4 × 21.2 cm. Various paginations. Issues 5–12 (the final issue) of Boy’s Own, the original “village newspaper” of the London acid house scene and one of the most influential DIY publications in the history of British dance music. Boy’s Own ran for twelve issues between 1986 and 1992, documenting—often in real time—the emergence of acid house, rave culture, and the people, places, and scenes that defined them. Heavily influenced by Liverpool’s seminal fanzine The End, Boy’s Own co-founder Terry Farley had written to The End as early as 1982 to propose a London equivalent. The idea finally took shape in 1986, when Farley enlisted his friend Andrew Weatherall. Weatherall later recalled: “Terry was enthralled with The End. His words at the time were, ‘If fuckin’ scousers can do it then I’m sure we can!’ or some such pep talk. And we did. It was Pritt sticks and cutting things out on my coffee table.” Like The End, the Boy’s Own collective imagined its readership in their own image: clued-up casuals and working-class autodidacts—“the boy (or girl) who one day stands on the terraces, the next day stands in a sweaty club, and the next day stays in and reads Brendan Behan whilst listening to Run-D.M.C.” Early issues explored the sartorial codes of London football firms alongside the city’s evolving club culture, but the editors were quick to recognise the cultural significance of house music as it began to take hold in the capital. Notably, the first article ever written on acid house appeared in Boy’s Own Issue 5 (Spring 1988), and the collective also staged the first documented outdoor acid rave in the UK later that same year. The magazine was irreverent, confrontational, and unapologetically London-centric—dense with slang, humour, and elitist bravado—yet it remains one of the most perceptive and accurate contemporaneous accounts of the UK’s early acid house scene, largely because it was written by the very DJs, promoters, designers, and clubbers who were shaping it. The present set comprises: Issue 5 – Spring 1988, Issue 6 – Summer 1988, Issue 7 – Autumn 1988, Issue 8 – Autumn 1988, Issue 9 – 1989, Issue 10 – 1990, Issue 11 – Summer 1991, and the final issue, Issue 12 – Spring 1992. All issues are in very good condition. Substantial runs of the important zine are scarce.