The first published
Yellow Book was in April of 1894. The cover shows a full figured masked woman who seems to be laughing at either the viewer of the publication or what the masked male figure is whispering to her. There is a curious feeling when looking at the front cover of the
Yellow Book; you want to know what is being said between both parties. Could it be that the figures are discussing censored secrets or rude yet humorous commentaries of the play they are viewing. The persons behind that masks tend to be unnerving always; their identity being equivocal they can behave with an entire impunity.* In this illustration there is less of art nouveau style and more rounded lined drawings. Black is more present in this illustration giving the figures a background that represents a
Yellow Book typically found the cover an exceedingly 'vulgar' and ' wondrously ugly' example of the 'New Art'. ** This could be due to the facial expression on the male figure that overlooks the woman; an alluring gaze.
private area or a theatrical box. Reviewers of the
*Fletcher, Ian.
Aubrey Beardsley. Boston: Twayne Publisher, 1987.
** Elliot, Bridget J. "Covent Garden Follies: Beardsley's Masquerade Images of Posers and Voyeurs." Oxford Art Journal 9, No. 1 (1986): 38-48.
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