The Yellow Book. An illustrated Quarterly. Volumes I to XIII. (13, complete) by Harland, Henry; Beardsley, Aubrey et al (eds.):

London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1894-1897 Complete set of the short-lived but famous Yellow Book. HB. Thirteen volumes, quarto, each bound in the yellow pictorial cloth, reflecting the style of the art editor during the first year, Aubrey Beardsley. Yellow was chosen to echo French risque novels of the time that had yellow covers. Although it was associated with the decadence and art for art's sake of the 1890s, the literary contents were often more conventional. Beardsley's design features on the covers of Volumes I-4, and these volumes include drawings by him (eg Vols II and III have ten such drawings by Beardsley). Vol.5 includes a pencil note about the change to the contents caused by the trial of Oscar Wilde. No further artwork by Beardsley is included. High quality reproductions of artworks are a feature of the volumes, usually tissue-guarded plates . A mixture of art and literature, with publishers' lists being the only advertisements. Volume I, April 1894, to Volume XIII, April 1897. Overall, a Good set only. Pages are generally good to very good, with some browning and foxing in places (eg some tissue guards); bindings mostly sound, a few volumes have slack or stretched binding. The covers are fair to good: generally soiled, rubbed and browned, with some spines being very browned. A few volumes are brighter and cleaner. Most spine ends are frayed or worn.