From The Dial: “One Year of the ‘The Yellow Bookʼ”

“The Yellow Book” always contains
such a variety of things that it would
go hard were there not a few of con­
siderable merit among them all. Indeed, one can
hardly look over the contents of one of these star­
ing octavos, without a dim sense of wonder that the
editors should have unearthed so many acceptable
writers and artists hitherto unknown to the public,
for familiar names are by no means the rule. The
October issue, which is the third of the series, im­
presses us as not quite equal to the preceding two,
although there are some striking features. Of the
art, Mr. Philip Broughton‘s “Mantegna” is by far
the best example. Mr. Beardsley‘s imagination
riots as before, but one quickly wearies of his gro­
tesque drawings. The poetry is “below par,” the
only really fine thing being “The Ballad of a Nun,”
by Mr. John Davidson. We may say a word for
Mr. Morton Fullerton’s strong sonnet on “George
Meredith,” without accepting that perverse novelist
as Shakespeare’s only rival “in our English tongue.”
The most conspicuous piece of prose is Mr. Hubert
Crackanthorpe‘s “A Study in Sentimentality,” and
the best is “The Headswoman,” by Mr. Kenneth
Grahame. Mr. Henry Harland contributes a pa-
thetic story which ranks with his most finished work.
The January “Yellow Book,” completing the first
year of the periodical, also has a pretty sketch by
Mr. Grahame, and a story by Mr. Harland. “Wlad­
islaw’s Advent,” by Mrs. Ménie Muriel Dowie
Norman, is one of the more striking things in this
volume. Two serious essays—one by Mr. James
Ashcroft Noble on Alexander Smith, and one by
Mr. Norman Hapgood on “Stendhal”—claim at-
tention, and deserve it. The poetry includes pieces
by Mrs. Tomson, Dr. Richard Garnett, and Mr.
Davidson. The art is not particularly artistic, and
we have been most interested in two “Bodley
Heads,” being portraits of Mr. LeGallienne and Mr.
Davidson. Messrs. Copeland Day are the Amer-
ican publishers.