#aetheticism

Picture: The Yellow Book, Volume I, April 1894. Taken from: The British Library website.

The Yellow Book was a periodical of the late Victorian era (1894-97). It was literary yellow and, though it looked like a book, it was in fact a magazine. It was published by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and edited by the American novelist Henry Harland and Aubrey Beardsley, who was the art editor and illustrator until 1895.

The Yellow Book was unusual for its time, not only for its cover: although it celebrated both literature and art, it placed them into two separate sections, broking further away from the printed media conventions of the time as well as from Victorian social values. Furthermore, it opened its pages to a wide variety of writers – including women and newcomers – many of whom were associated to Aestheticism, Decadence and Symbolism.

My verdict: a design that really fulfilled its aims: to be different, modern and avant-garde, and to attract attention. The yellow/black contrast is effective at catching one’s attention while helping to organize the overall structure of the design. The colour contrast is supported by a clever use of the line that breaks the structure into clear horizontal sections, framing the artwork in a central position as the most prominent element. The type – thin, stylish and subtle – positioned in the white space, gives the design its modern look.