Please join us for a behind-the-scenes talk in our Library with University of Delaware Professor Margaret D. Stetz about the Yellow Book, the British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. This talk will be of particular interest to visitors interested in DelArt’s Pre-Raphaelite collection.
Professor Stetz will explain how late-nineteenth century Britain saw the creation of new kinds of periodicals that enabled illustrators to achieve widespread recognition and influence, while also making a living. But the most exciting magazine of the period didn’t look like a magazine at all. It was hardbound, like a book, and its innovative policy was to ban illustrations per se, featuring artworks instead that stood on their own, independent of short stories or articles.
During this talk, attendees will have the opportunity to see DelArt’s rare copies of the Yellow Book. Professor Stetz will highlight some of the many reasons why the Yellow Book (1894-1897) was important in its own time and is still memorable today. These include the role played by Aubrey Beardsley as its art editor (and contributor of daring images) in its first year, as well as its later championing of art by women.
Margaret D. Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women’s Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware, as well as a specialist in art and literature of the British 1890s.
You can help ensure the future of this vital resource in two ways:
Image: Cover, The Yellow Book (detail). London: E. Mathews & J. Lane; Boston: Copeland & Day, 1894. John Sloan Manuscript Collection, Helen Farr Sloan Library and Archives, Delaware Art Museum.