Author Archives: Andrew Barton

An original printing of 'The Yellow Book', 1894

I have been interested in The Yellow Book, a legendary late-Victorian literary magazine, since my introduction to the work of Aubrey Beardsley. I found a coffee table book of his illustrations in my childhood home many years ago, and still credit the first hour I spent pouring over its pages as my biggest influence in developing a graphic design style.

Beardsley’s refined lines and balance of space and use of contrast are extraordinary. His work manages to be simultaneously both innovative and classic. The Yellow Book began, as legend has it, during a conversation between Beardsley and Henry Hartland, an American expatriate (who was the magazine’s literary editor) on a foggy New Year’s day in 1894.

The magazine became instantly distinct for its nearly complete separation of literary and visual content. It was also notorious for its association with sinful content, which derive from other associations of the time with racy French novels bearing yellow jackets, and with some lines referencing “yellow books” in Oscar Wilde texts.* Wilde himself was associated with the magazine, largely because he was friendly with Beardsley (who had illustrated his Salomé the year previous to The Yellow Book’s first appearance). Wilde was reportedly seen clutching a yellow book at the time of his infamous arrest. Beardsley served as art editor and designer for The Yellow Book but was dismissed after the fifth issue, for his association with Oscar Wilde. It is widely believed, and I will have to concur, that the quality declined after Beardsley’s departure.

It is safe to say that in the world of lit mag history, The Yellow Book held the place that McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern does today. The simple fact that it was founded a solid 104 years earlier makes it a must-see for lovers of all independent publications. The letterpress pages make the words and pictures notably sharp and vivid. The Yellow Book’s exquisite design and and ground breaking content make it a very significant player in the history of independently published books and magazines.

All 13 volumes of The Yellow Book are available for viewing at archive.org. Many academic and well established public libraries hold complete collections of the originals.

Interior illustration

Cover design for The Yellow Book

*An Ideal Husband and The Picture of Dorian Grey

How International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read

Author: André Schiffrin
Publisher: Verso, London & New York
Published: August 2000
Find The Business Of Books at your local book shop. Here it is on Amazon

André Schiffrin was Managing Director at Pantheon Books for three decades. He wrote this book during his first ten years away, after forming The New Press.

The book reads as a memoir, a history, a critique, and a manifesto. It succeeds at them all.

Schiffrin offers us a beautiful picture of the New York publishing world of the 1960s– encounters with figures like Bennett Cerf of Random House (the man some credit as responsible for bringing James Joyce’s Ulysses to print in the U.S., as well as being Truman Capote’s longtime editor, among other claims to fame), early struggles with corporate dealings, and many stories about Pantheon’s groundbreaking editorship at that time.

He goes into detail, with bitterness but also candor, about the significant decline in both public readership and in the ethics of the publishing world during the second half of the 20^th century.

The Business of Books is the only book about books I’ve encountered to discuss the business side of this (largely) artistic industry while remaining artful and digestible itself. The book moves chronologically, tackling major issues as the years roll by, eventually concluding with Schiffrin’s decision to leave Pantheon, start his own press, and write this book.

In this copious collection of an expert’s thoughts are passages such as: “It was the decision to discount books– particularly best-sellers– that made chains the phenomenon they are today…German minister of culture and former publisher Michael Naumann predicted that if discounting was allowed in Europe, 80 percent of Germany’s four thousand book stores would fold.” (pg. 124)

Another thing to be noted about this book is that it was published ten years ago. The bulk of what the internet has done to, for, and against print has happened since 2000. There are decade-old statistics that seem shocking now, and many have probably grown worse. If we’re lucky Schiffrin is still keeping a close eye on the constantly evolving publishing world, and will offer his thoughts again.