Complete Set of The Yellow Book: An Illustrated Quarterly

lot/complete set of the yellow book an illustrated quarterly LgdTxMt 633152846 / Price history

lot/complete set of the yellow book an illustrated quarterly LgdTxMt 633152846

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lot/complete set of the yellow book an illustrated quarterly LgdTxMt 633152846

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Complete Set of The Yellow Book: An Illustrated Quarterly

Aubrey Beardsley, art ed. (vols. I-IV); Henry Harland, ed. THE YELLOW BOOK: AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY. 13 vols. (complete). London: Elkin Matthews and John Lane (vol. I-II); John Lane (vol. III-XIII), April 1894-April 1897. Vol. II (stated third edition to cover); vols. III and IV (stated second edition to cover). 8vo. Hardcovers. Original pictorial yellow cloth-covered boards stamped in black; the first four volumes with cover, spine, and title page designs by Beardsley; the fifth volume with back cover and spine design only by Beardsley (same as on the fourth and used by mistake). Volumes I-V and VII-XI bound with advertisements and list of books at the back, volumes VI, XII, XIII bound with list of books only; vol. XI without the price included in the corners of the upper board. Lasner 65. Each 8 1/4 x 6 3/4 in. From a Private Pinehurst, North Carolina Collection The Yellow Book was founded by Aubrey Beardsley and novelist Henry Harland as an avant-garde literary and artistic periodical. Intended to be more provocative in nature, the color yellow was chosen to imitate the color of immoral French novels. Although the contents were in reality mostly mild in nature, scandal fell upon the publication following Oscar Wilde's arrest in 1895. An association had formed between Wilde and Beardsley after the artist created illustrations for Salomé, and when the public was mistakenly led to believe that Wilde had a copy of The Yellow Book with him when he was arrested, Beardsley's connection to the magazine was cut abruptly short. This is a fascinating quarterly even aside from its dramatic history, and contributions came from a variety of important artists and writers such as Beardsley, John Singer Sargent, Walter Crane, Henry James, H. G. Wells, Kenneth Grahame, Ella D'Arcy, Constantin Guys, and many others. This set likely contains many first editions, however, as Lasner explains, "later impressions and facsimiles are difficult to identify...so many sets have been 'made up' and the details are so perplexing that rational codification may well prove impossible." Luckily, we know that "the 'original' volumes – those actually printed during the magazine's run – contained publishers' advertisements bound in at the back, no volume without the ads can be a first edition" (Lasner p. 44). Boards with expected age and shelf wear including scuffing, light wear to extremities, and a rare tiny insect hole and light soiling; spines unevenly discolored, occasionally slightly cocked, with rubbing to ends with an occasional small tear to cloth, slight separation from text block, and a couple of volumes with slightly heavier wear to backstrip; two volumes with a small amount of white paint to boards; endpapers with browning and foxing, early ownership inscription to first free endpaper, and with occasional light hinge cracking; interiors with scattered foxing, expected handling wear and fraying and wear to page edges, mild toning, rare stain, and occasional gutter cracking and detached tissue guard; a couple of volumes with a gathering very slightly loose; vol. V with overall heavier wear including a larger tear to head of spine, upper board partially detached and large tear to front pastedown; paper type used for text block changes beginning with volume VIII.

Estimate:$1,200

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