The Yellow Book, Vol. 1—Prospectus

Night scene showing a woman whose figure is outlined by the light of a street lamp as she browses through jumbled books in a display box, under the gaze of the Pierrot-like shopkeeper standing in the doorway who stares at her over the brim of his glasses.

The prospectus consists of an eight-page leaflet bound with a single piece of string. The first two paragraphs read as follows:

The aim of the publishers and editors of the “Yellow Book” is to depart as far as may be from the bad old traditions of periodical literature, and to provide an Illustrated magazine which shall be as beautiful as a piece of bookmaking, modern and distinguished in its letterpress and its pictures, and withal popular in the better sense of the word. It is felt that such a magazine, at present, is conspicuous by its absence.

In point of technical excellence the “Yellow Book” will be as nearly perfect as it can be made. The present announcement shows the size and shape of the paper (now being especially woven) on which it will be printed, as well as the type that will be used, and the proportion of text and margin. It will contain 256 pages, or over, and will be bound in limp yellow cloth.