The Yellow Book of Ella D'Arcy EPUB

Ella D'Arcy was born on 23rd August 1857 in London, one of nine children.

Her education spanned London, Germany, France and the Channel Islands. A student of fine art, her poor eyesight meant a switch to literature was needed and with this she had hopes to be an author.

She worked as a contributor and unofficial editor, alongside Henry Harland, to The Yellow Book, Aubrey Beardsley's sensational quarterly magazine that combined art, stories, poetry, essays and much else besides. D'Arcy wrote several stories for the magazine and her stories have an undeniable psychological and realist style through her engagement with various themes from marriage, the family, imitation through to deception.

Recognition of her talents grew after the publication of 'Irremediable', in the Yellow Book, where it received much praise from critics.

She also wrote and published in the Argosy, Blackwood's Magazine, and Temple Bar.

However, D'Arcy's canon was small and, apart from her magazine stories, her book publishing was limited to 'Monochromes' (1895), 'Modern Instances' and 'The Bishop's Dilemma' (1898). She also translated Andre Maurois's biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley entitled 'Ariel' (1924).

Her diligence with work aside she was notorious for her inability to maintain relationships with friends. When she did appear to them it was often unannounced. This earned her the sobriquet 'Goblin Ella.'

D'Arcy spent much of her life living alone, though she had a constant urge to travel, but usually she resided on the edge of poverty. Her writing was often motivated by this need.

Much of her later life was spent in Paris before returning to London in 1937, where she died, in hospital, on 5th September 1937.

During the Victorian era the publishing of magazines and periodicals accelerated at a phenomenal rate. This really was mass market publishing to a hungry audience eager for literary sustenance. Many of our greatest authors contributed and expanded their reach whilst many fledging authors also found a ready source for their nascent works and careers.

Amongst the very many was 'The Yellow Book'. Although titled as 'An Illustrated Quarterly' it was sold as a cloth-bound hardback and within were short stories, essays, poetry, illustrations and portraits. It was edited by the American author Henry Harland, who also contributed, and its art editor was no less that the formidable Aubrey Beardsley, the enfant terrible of illustration.

Its yellow cover and name gave it an association with the risque and erotic yellow covered works published in France. It was a visual shorthand for ideas that would push many boundaries of Society to more open interpretations. Being complete in each volume and slightly aloof it stayed away from serialised fiction and advertisements.

Within each lavishly illustrated edition were literary offerings that included works by such luminaries as Henry James, H G Wells, W B Yeats, Edith Nesbit, George Gissing and many others from the ascetic and decadent movements of the time.

The other notable inclusion was women both as contributors and amongst its editing staff, which was at odds with the then patriarchal gender norms.

Although it only survived for 13 issues its reach and influence were second to none.