THE YELLOW BOOK

The best-known little magazine of the period, The Yellow Book came out in thirteen quarterly issues between April 1894 and April 1897. The first two volumes were published by John Lane and Elkin Mathews at The Bodley Head; after this partnership was dissolved in September 1894, Lane took sole responsibility for the magazine’s publication. Copeland and Day in Boston brought out the first ten volumes for the American public, after which Lane’s New York office took over.  Henry Harland edited The Yellow Book‘s literary contents throughout its print run, with Ella D’Arcy and Ethel Colburn Mayne sometimes serving as sub-editors. Aubrey Beardsley edited the magazine’s art contents in its first year. The Swan Electric Engraving Company produced most of the photographic halftones of the magazine’s tonal art; pen-and-ink drawings were reproduced in line-block engravings by Carl Hentschel. 

The Yellow Book Digital Edition (2011-2014), edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra and Dennis Denisoff, has been revised and updated for Y90s 2.0. The edition is based on physical copies held in Toronto Metropolitan University Library Archives and Special Collections, supplemented by archival materials from the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press. The facsimile volumes of The Yellow Book are provided in flipbook format by the Internet Archive from copies digitized by the University of Toronto Libraries.

Editors:  Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra

Editorial Team: Reg Beatty, Bassam Chiblak, Laura Chapnick, Constance Crompton, Joan Densmore, Emma Fraschetti, Marion Grant, Jillian Harkness, Alison Hedley, Ruth Knechtel, Lauren Maxine, Leila Meshgini, Chelsea Miya, Meaghan Munholland, Robert Pasquini, Gabriel Penev, Karl Petschke, Alexandra Pospisil, Amy Ratelle, Madeleine Sawyer, Graham Sigurdson, Caley Skinner, Sean Springer, Melissa Tanti, Ali Versluis.

General Introduction to The Yellow Book

Volume 1
April 1894