''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1887 by John Lane and Elkin Mathews, The Bodley Head existed as an independent entity or as part of multiple consortia until it was acquired by Random ...

Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by the American Henry Harland. The periodical was priced at 5 shillings (£, ) and lent its name to the "Yellow Nineties", referring to the decade of its operation.

Significance

''The Yellow Book'' was a leading journal of the British 1890s; to some degree associated with

aestheticism Aestheticism (also known as the aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century that valued the appearance of literature, music, fonts and the arts over their functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be produced to b ...

and

decadence Decadence was a late-19th-century movement emphasizing the need for sensationalism, egocentricity, and bizarre, artificial, perverse, and exotic sensations and experiences. By extension, it may refer to a decline in art, literature, science, ...

, the magazine contained a wide range of literary and artistic genres, poetry, short stories, essays, book illustrations, portraits, and reproductions of paintings.

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley ( ; 21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. ...

was its first art editor, and he has been credited with the idea of the yellow cover, with its association with illicit French fiction of the period. He obtained works by such artists as Charles Conder, William Rothenstein,

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

, Walter Sickert, and Philip Wilson Steer. The literary content was no less distinguished; authors who contributed were:

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, Parody, parodist and Caricature, caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the theatre crit ...

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...

, " Baron Corvo",

Ernest Dowson Ernest Christopher Dowson (2 August 186723 February 1900) was an English poet, novelist, and short-story writer who is often associated with the Decadent movement. Biography Ernest Dowson was born in Lee, London, Lee, then in Kent, in 1867. His ...

George Gissing George Robert Gissing ( ; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. In the 1890s he was considered one of the three greatest novelists in England, and by the 1940s he had been ...

, Sir Edmund Gosse,

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

, Richard Le Gallienne,

Charlotte Mew Charlotte Mary Mew (15 November 1869 – 24 March 1928) was an English poet whose work spanned the eras of Victorian poetry and Modernism. Early life and education Mew was born in Bloomsbury, London, daughter of the architect Frederick Mew ( ...

Arthur Symons Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic, translator and magazine editor. Life Born in Milford Haven, Wales, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France an ...

Arthur Waugh Arthur Waugh (27 August 1866 – 26 June 1943) was an English author, literary critic and publisher. He was the father of the authors Alec Waugh and Evelyn Waugh. Early life Waugh was born in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, in 1866, elder son of ...

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

and

Frank Swettenham Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham (28 March 1850 – 11 June 1946) was a British colonial administrator who became the first Resident general of the Federated Malay States, which brought the Malay states of Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and ...

. Though

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

never published anything within its pages, the journal was linked to him because Beardsley had illustrated his '' Salomé,'' and because he was on friendly terms with many of its contributors. The magazine is also alluded to across his literature. In Wilde's ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...

'' (1891), a major corrupting influence on Dorian is "the yellow book" which Lord Henry sends over to amuse him after the

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

of his first love. In ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', the "yellow book" is understood by critics to be by

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel (1884, pub ...

, a representative work of Parisian decadence that heavily influenced British

aesthetes Aestheticism (also known as the aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century that valued the appearance of literature, music, fonts and the arts over their functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be produced to be ...

like Beardsley. Such books in Paris were wrapped in yellow paper to alert the reader to their lascivious content. It is not clear, however, whether ''Dorian Gray'' is the direct source for the review's title. A covert allusion to the "Yellow Book" can also be found in Wilde's drama, ''

An Ideal Husband ''An Ideal Husband'' is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for ...

'' (1895). The character Mrs Cheveley states that she has "never read a Blue Book. I prefer books … in yellow colours." This remark also appears to contrast the statistical and informational blue books almanacs with the artistic and literary "yellow" books of the 1890s. Considering the later date of this drama's debut, 1895, than that of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', it can be inferred that it is perhaps more likely that Mrs Cheveley's own allusion is to the actual "Yellow Book" magazine, as its publication began in 1894. There were reports that Wilde was carrying a copy of the "Yellow Book" when he was arrested, at the Cadogan Hotel, in 1895. This report may or may not be correct, though Wilde cannot have been carrying a copy of

Pierre Louÿs Pierre-Félix Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a Belgian poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perf ...

’s racy, yellow-bound novel ''

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

'', as has also been suggested, because this book was not published until 1896. Soon after Wilde was arrested Beardsley was dismissed as the periodical's art editor; his post taken over by the publisher, John Lane, assisted by another artist, Patten Wilson. Although critics have contended that the quality of its contents declined after Beardsley left and that ''The Yellow Book'' became a vehicle for promoting the work of Lane's authors, a remarkably high standard in both art and literature was maintained until the periodical ceased publication in early 1897. A notable feature was the inclusion of work by women writers and illustrators, among them Ella D'Arcy and Ethel Colburn Mayne (both also served as Harland's subeditors),

George Egerton Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright (born Mary Elizabeth Annie Dunne; 14 December 1859 – 12 August 1945), better known by her pen name George Egerton (pronounced Edg'er-ton), was a writer of short stories, novels, plays and translations, noted for ...

Rosamund Marriott Watson Rosamund Marriott Watson (née Ball; 6 October 1860 – 29 December 1911) was an English poet, nature writer and critic, who early in her career wrote under the pseudonyms Graham R. Tomson and Rushworth (or R.) Armytage. Early life and educatio ...

Ada Leverson Ada Esther Leverson (née Beddington; 10 October 1862 – 30 August 1933) was a British writer who is known for her friendship with Oscar Wilde and for her work as a witty novelist of the fin-de-siècle. Family Leverson was born into a Jewish ...

, Ethel Reed and the sisters

Netta Syrett Netta Syrett (17 March 1865 – 15 December 1943) was an English writer of the late Victorian period whose novels featured New Woman protagonists. Her novel ''Portrait of a Rebel'' was adapted into the 1936 film ''A Woman Rebels''. Biography ...

, Mabel Syrett and Nellie Syrett. Perhaps indicative of ''The Yellow Book'' past significance in literary circles of its day is a reference to it in a fictional piece thirty-three years after it ceased publication. American author

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including ''O Pioneers!'', ''The Song of the Lark (novel), The Song of the Lark'', a ...

noted its presence in the personal library of one of her characters in the short story, " Double Birthday", noting that it had lost its "power to seduce and stimulate". ''The Yellow Book'' differed from other periodicals in that it was issued

clothbound A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...

, made a strict distinction between the literary and art contents (only in one or two instances were these connected), did not include serial fiction, and contained no advertisements except publishers' lists.

Initial reception

''The Yellow Book'' brilliant colour immediately associated the periodical with illicit French novels – an anticipation, many thought, of the scurrilous content inside. The article '

A Defence of Cosmetics "A Defence of Cosmetics" is an essay by caricaturist and parodist Max Beerbohm and published in the first edition of ''The Yellow Book'' in April 1894. Aged 21 when the essay was published, it established his reputation. It later appeared in his ...

' by

appeared in the first volume, causing something of a sensation and establishing his reputation. Yet generally ''The Yellow Book'' first list of contributors bespoke a non-radical, typically conservative collection of authors:

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhood ...

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

Frederick Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British Victorian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and clas ...

, and

among others. Upon its publication,

dismissed ''The Yellow Book'' as "not yellow at all". In ''The Romantic '90s'', Richard Le Gallienne, a poet identified with the New Literature of the Decadence, described ''The Yellow Book'' as the following: "''The Yellow Book'' was certainly novel, even striking, but except for the drawings and decorations by Beardsley, which, seen thus for the first time, not unnaturally affected most people as at once startling, repellent, and fascinating, it is hard to realize why it should have seemed so shocking. But the public is an instinctive creature, not half so stupid as is usually taken for granted. It evidently scented something queer and rather alarming about the strange new quarterly, and thus it almost immediately regarded it as symbolic of new movements which it only partially represented".

Influence of Aubrey Beardsley

''The Yellow Book'' owed much of its reputation to

, who, despite John Lane's remonstrations, repeatedly attempted to shock public opinion. Lane painstakingly perused Beardsley's drawings before each publication, as Beardsley was known for hiding inappropriate details in his work. Throughout Beardsley's contribution to ''The Yellow Book'', the two were caught in a game of hide-and-seek. Lane's scrutiny of Beardsley's drawings suggests that he wished ''The Yellow Book'' to be a publication only slightly associated with the Decadence's shocking aesthetic. Indeed, Lane continually emphasized that he desired the work to be suitable reading material for any audience. However, Beardsley openly mocked the Victorian artistic ideal, which he considered to be prudish and hypocritical. Beardsley's artwork was perhaps the most controversial aspect of ''The Yellow Book''; his style was thought to be highly unnatural and grotesque, and he was openly caricatured in contemporary periodicals. In response, Beardsley cleverly published two drawings stylistically divergent to his own under the names Phillip Broughton and Albert Foschter i
''The Yellow Book'' third volume
While '' Saturday Review'' termed Broughton's piece "a drawing of merit" and Foschter's "a clever study", they decried the drawings under Beardsley's own name, deeming them "as freakish as ever". Beardsley's contribution transformed ''The Yellow Book'' into a periodical associated with the more decadent attitudes of the fin-de-siecle. It was the decision of both Beardsley and Henry Harland to design the book in accordance with the French novel. This decision was the key factor in causing Beardsley's removal from the periodical. The media reported the yellow book which Oscar Wilde carried to his trial to be ''The Yellow Book'' itself. Sally Ledger writes in "Wilde Women and The Yellow Book: The Sexual Politics of Aestheticism and Decadence", " far as the newspapers were concerned, Wilde was accompanied to his trial by The Yellow Book, and such media reports cemented in the cultural imagination of the 1890s an association between The Yellow Book, aestheticism and Decadence and, after April and May 1895, homosexuality". Due to Beardsley's associations with Wilde through his illustrations of ''

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

'', poetry contributor

William Watson William, Willie, Bill or Billy Watson may refer to: Arts * William Watson (songwriter) (1794–1840), English concert hall singer and songwriter * William Watson (poet) (1858–1935), English poet * William J. Watson (author) (1865-1948), Scott ...

demanded he be fired as art editor. With this internal and (after Bodley Head's premises were set upon by a mob who vandalised the building) external pressure, publishers removed all traces of the artist in the quarterly after Volume V, though an advertisement exists for Volume VI exhibiting his work. According to

Stanley Weintraub Stanley Weintraub (April 17, 1929 – July 28, 2019) was an American historian and biographer and an expert on George Bernard Shaw. Early life Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1929. He was the eldest child of Benjam ...

, "The color of The Yellow Book was an appropriate reflection of the 'Yellow Nineties', a decade in which Victorianism was giving way among the fashionable to Regency attitudes and French influences; For yellow was not only the decor of the notorious and dandified pre-Victorian Regency, but also of the allegedly wicked and decadent French novel". If ''The Yellow Book'' was not as "daring" as its prospectus advertised,Prospectus: ''The Yellow Book'' 1
/ref> it was still a part of the vanguard of cultural debate which typified the main struggles of the "Yellow Nineties". Its variegated array of contributors associated ''The Yellow Book'' with the "impressionism, feminism, naturalism, dandyism, symbolism and classicism

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

all participate in the politics of decadence in the nineties". Sabine Doran writes (in her ''The Culture of Yellow, or, The Visual Politics of Late Modernity'') that "from the moment of its conception, ''The Yellow Book'' presents itself as having a close relationship with the culture of scandal; it is, in fact, one of the progenitors of this culture."

Art separate from text

''The Yellow Book'' has been credited as "... commercially the most ambitious and typographically the most important of the 1890s periodicals. tgave the fullest expression to the double resistance of graphic artists against literature, and Art against commerce, the double struggle symbolized by the paired words on the contents-pages of the Yellow Books: Letterpress and Pictures, Literature and Art." ''The Yellow Book'' contents-pages diverged from Victorian ideas concerning art, where " xts prescribed pictures and not the other way round". In the ''Illustration of Books: A Manual for the Use of Students'',

Joseph Pennell Joseph Pennell (July 4, 1857 – April 23, 1926) was an American draftsman, etcher, lithographer, and illustrator for books and magazines. A prolific artist, he spent most of his working life in Europe, and developed an interest in landmarks, lan ...

explains that "an illustration really is a work of art ... which is explanatory". Interviewed before the appearance of ''The Yellow Book'' first publication, Harland and Beardsley rejected the idea that the function of artwork was merely explanatory: "There is to be no connection whatever etween the text and illustrations

hey Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...

will be quite separate". The equilibrium which ''The Yellow Book'' poses between art and text is emphasized by the separate title pages before each individual work whether literary or pictorial. The use of title pages announces the piece before the viewer's eye is allowed to glimpse it, separating the work from the other contributions and presenting each individual work as both serious and independent from the whole.

Page layout

''The Yellow Book'' mise-en-page differed dramatically from contemporary Victorian periodicals: "... its asymmetrically placed titles, lavish margins, abundance of white space, and relatively square page declare ''The Yellow Book'' specific and substantial debt to Whistler". The copious amount of blank space utilized by ''The Yellow Book'' brought the magazine simplicity and elegance, stylistically overshadowing the "anaesthetic clutter of the typical Victorian page". The use of white space is positive rather than negative, simultaneously drawing the reader's eye to the blank page as an aesthetic and essentially created object. The first issue of ''The Yellow Book'' prospectus introduces it "as a book in form, a book in substance; a book beautiful to see and convenient to handle; a book with style, a book with finish; a book that every book-lover will love at first sight; a book that will make book-lovers of many who are now indifferent to books". The decision to print ''The Yellow Book'' in Caslon-old face further signified the ties which ''The Yellow Book'' held to the Revivalists. Caslon-old face, "an eighteenth-century revival of a seventeenth-century typographical style" became "the type-face of deliberate and principled reaction or anachronism". A type-face generally reserved for devotional and ecclesiastical work, its use in the pages of ''The Yellow Book'' at once identified it with the "Religion of Beauty". The use of catch-words on every page enhanced ''The Yellow Book'' link to the obsolescent. Both antiquated and obtrusive, the catch-phrase interrupts the cognitive process of reading: “making-transparent ... the physical sign which constitutes the act of reading; and in doing this, catch-words participate in the ‘pictorialization’ of typography”. By interrupting readers through the very use of irrelevant text, catch-words lend the printed word a solidity of form which is otherwise ignored. The cover for the final edition of the Yellow Book (published in April 1897) was designed by Mabel Syrett.

Mentions in literature

''The Yellow Book'' is mentioned in

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

's ''

Of Human Bondage ''Of Human Bondage'' is a 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The novel is generally agreed to be Maugham's masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although he stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography; though much in it ...

'' (1915): Maugham also wrote critically about it in his semi-autobiographical work, ''The Summing Up'' (1938), commenting "If one takes the trouble to look through the volumes of ''The Yellow Book'', which at that time seemed the last thing in sophisticated intelligence, it is startling to discover how thoroughly bad the majority of its contributors were. For all their parade these writers were no more than an eddy in a backwater and it is unlikely that the history of English literature will give them more than a passing glance." ''The Yellow Book'' is also mentioned in

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

's ''

Put Out More Flags ''Put Out More Flags'', the sixth novel by Evelyn Waugh, was first published by Chapman and Hall in 1942. The title comes from the saying of an anonymous Chinese sage, quoted and translated by Lin Yutang in ''The Importance of Living'' (1937): ...

'' (1942): Penguin Classics, 2000, p. 35. ''The Yellow Book'' was parodied in Robert Hichens's 1894 novel ''

The Green Carnation ''The Green Carnation'' is a novel by Robert Hichens that was first published anonymously in 1894. A satire on contemporary champions of the Aesthetic Movement, it was withdrawn briefly after the scandal of the Oscar Wilde trial in the follo ...

'' as ''The Yellow Disaster'' which contains a drawing by

of the Archbishop of Canterbury sitting in a wheelbarrow consisting of just three lines to form the image. Lord Reginald Hastings (a fictional portrayal of Lord Alfred Douglas) makes the following remark, "What exquisite simplicity!" In the library of the protagonist of

's short story, " Double Birthday" (1929):

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

's poem "The arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel" (1937) describes Wilde as saying:

So you've brought me the latest Yellow Book: And Buchan has got in it now: Approval of what is approved of Is as false as a well-kept vow.

In ''

'' (1895) by Oscar Wilde, Mrs Cheveley (a rather immoral character) says: The book sent by Lord Henry to Dorian Gray in Wilde's novel (widely thought to be

' ), which contributes considerably to his descent into corruption, is also described as being

References

External links

All 13 volumes are available a
the yellow nineties online
in various formats, with introductions to each volume, reviews of the period, and biographies of contributors. All 13 volumes are also available to view or download from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...