Yellowback

A yellow-back or yellowback is a cheap novel which was published in Britain in the second half of the 19th century. They were occasionally called "mustard-plaster" novels.

Developed in the 1840s to compete with the " penny dreadful", yellow-backs were marketed as entertaining reading. They had brightly coloured covers, often printed by chromoxylography, that were attractive to a new class of readers, thanks to the spread of education and rail travel.

Routledge was one of the first publishers to begin marketing yellow-backs by starting their "Railway Library" in 1848. The series included 1,277 titles, published over 50 years. These mainly consisted of stereotyped reprints of novels originally published as cloth editions. By the late 19th century, yellow-backs included sensational fiction, adventure stories, "educational" manuals, handbooks, and cheap biographies.

Two typical examples of authors of yellow-backs include James Grant and Robert Louis Stevenson.

See also

*Airport novel
*Sensation novel

References

Further reading

* Michael Sadleir, ''Collecting "Yellowbacks"'', London: Constable, 1938 (Aspects of Book-Collecting series).
* Michael Sadleir, ''XIX Century Fiction. A Bibliographical Record based on his own Collection'', Constable & Co. and University of California Press, 1951; reprinted by Cooper Square Publishers, New York, 1969. 2 volumes. Vol. II lists Sadleir's personal "Yellow Back Collection".
* Chester W. Topp, ''Victorian Yellowbacks & Paperbacks, 1849-1905'', Denver, Colorado: Hermitage Antiquarian Bookshop, 1993, 9 volumes, as follows: Vol. 1. George Routledge; Vol. 2. Ward & Lock; Vol. 3. Hotten, Chatto & Windus; Vol. 4. Frederick Warne & Co., Sampson Low & Co.; Vol. 5. MacMillan & Co., Smith, Elder & Co.; Vol. 6. Longmans, Green & Co.; Vol. 7. F.V. White & Co. Cassell & Co., W. Blackwood & Sons, Vizetelly & Co.; Vol. 8. Simpkin, Marshall & Co., J.W. Arrowsmith, R. Bentley, Ward & Downey, J. Blackwood; Vol. 9. David Bryce, Ingram, Cooke & Co., David Bogue, Henry Lea, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., J & C. Brown & Co.
* Robert Lee Wolff, Yellowbacks occupy a prominent position in this catalogue.

External links

Digital collection of Yellowback covers
UCLA
Yellowbacks at Emory
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University - digitalized yellowbacks available for download

Guide to the Yellowback Press collection, 1981-1995
at University of South Florida Libraries
*

Yellowbacks: Don’t Judge These Victorian Books by Their Covers
Antheneaum of Philadelphia

Aspects of the Victorian book: Yellowbacks
at British Library

Now that's a novel idea
at BBC

Yellowbacks : an exhibition
at Monash University Library - also
Exhibition catalogue


at National Library of Scotland

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yellow-Back
19th-century British literature
Novel forms
Literary genres
British culture
Pulp fiction