Card binding

Aubrey Beardsley.

1895.

Tanned card binding with an illustration.

8 x 5¼ inches

Beardsley was employed to define The Yellow Book’s character by giving it a distinctive visual style, and this binding for the Prospectus strikes precisely the controversial note he was trying to convey. [continued below]

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Photograph and text by Simon Cooke

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]

The illustration shows an elegant women perusing a bookseller’s stock: though not unusual to modern eyes, the idea of a lady sorting through printed material in the street was controversial at the time of publication, and suggests that looking at books such as the proposed magazine was transgressive and impolite. Beardsley thus challenges the potential buyer to display his or her individuality by taking a look. Other daring elements are added in the form of the elderly bookseller, who is dressed as a pierrot (a figure which is both disconcertingly strange and associated in peasant cultures with sexual perversion), and the absolute contrast between the absorbing blackness and the glaring light. A sophisticated image, both elegant and repellent, is used to sell the magazine.

Bibliography

Announcement: The Yellow Book . London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1894.

Created 25 February 2016