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From Chicago Daily Tribune: “Two Original Periodicals”

The Yellow Book, the second volume of
which is just out, is thoroughly enjoyable.
(London: Elkin Matthews & John Lane.
Boston: Copeland & Day.) The ridicule
heaped on this novelty in periodical
literature seems to have been earned
by its originality. The illustrations will
first attract the attention, and then
interest and perhaps fascinate the reader.
Aubrey Beardsley‘s portrait of Mme. Réjane
in the present number is said to be a remark-
able likeness, besides having the striking indi-
viduality of almost every drawing by this
artist. There are several pictures which have
evidently been spoiled in the process
of reproduction. The best thing about
the Yellow Book, apart from its brave spirit of
contemporaneousness, is that the pictures are
not intended to illustrate the text and the
text is not a letterpress for the pictures.
There is no reason why on art
should be made the bond slave
of another. Today in this country
beauty of typography and the charm of style
are sacrificed to the mania for illustrations.
It is good to find a few men of taste
who make a stand against the re-
treat of right principles in this
matter. There is a wide variety
in the literary contents of the Yellow Book:
and there seems to be no disposition on the
part of the editors to fall back on the stereo-
typed forms of verse and fiction, the bane of
periodical literature in England and America.
Thought—creative thought—will evidently
be prized above cold and soulless forms however
polished.

MLA citation:

“Two Original Periodicals.” Review of The Yellow Book, vol. 2, Juluy 1894, Chicago Daily Tribune 11 August 1894, p. 10. Yellow Nineties 2.0, Edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019. https://1890s.ca/yb2-review-chicago-daily-tribune-aug-1894/