The proposal to revive the old "yellow back" cover for novels, partly in
the interest of economy in production, partly to attract the purchaser by
the lure of colour, has caused no little stir in the literary world. In
order to clarify opinion on the subject Mr. Punch has been at pains to
secure the following expressions of their views from some of the leading
authors of both sexes:--
Mr. J.M. KEYNES, C.B., the author of the most sensational book of the hour,
contributed some interesting observations on the economics of the dye
industry and their bearing on the question. These we are reluctantly
obliged to omit. We may note however his general conclusion that the impact
on the public mind of a book often varies in an inverse ratio with the
attractiveness of its appearance or its title. At the same time he admits
that if he had called his momentous work _The Terrible Treaty_, and if it
had been bound in a rainbow cover with a Cubist design, its circulation
might have been even greater than it actually is. But then, as he candidly
owns, "as a Cambridge man, I may be inclined to attach an undue importance
to 'Backs.'"
Mr. FREDERIC HARRISON writes: "MATT. ARNOLD once chaffed me for keeping a
guillotine in my back-garden. But my real colour was never sea-green in
politics any more than it is yellow in literature or journalism. Yet I have
a great tenderness for the old yellow-backs of fifty years ago. Yellow
Books are another story. The yellow-backs may have sometimes affronted the
eye, but for the most part they were dove-like in their outlook. Now 'red
ruin and the breaking-up of laws' flaunt themselves in the soberest livery.
I do not often drop into verse, but this inversion of the old order has
suggested these lines, which you may care to print:--
"'In an age mid-Victorian and mellow,
Ere the current of life ran askew,
The backs of our novels were yellow,
Their hearts were of Quaker-like hue;
But now, when extravagant lovers
Their hectic emotions parade,
In sober or colourless covers
We find them arrayed.'"
Mr. CHARLES GARVICE points out that the choice of colour in bindings calls
for especial care and caution at the present time, owing to the powerful
influence of association. Yellow might lend impetus to the Yellow Peril.
Red is especially to be avoided owing to its unfortunate appropriation by
Revolutionary propagandists. Blue, though affected by statisticians and
Government publishers, has a traditional connection with the expression of
sentiments of an antinomian and heterodox character. At all costs the
sobriety and dignity of fiction should be maintained, and sparing use
should be made of the brighter hues of the spectrum. He had forgotten a
good deal of his Latin, but there still lingered in his memory the old
warning: "_O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori_."
Miss DAISY ASHFORD, another of our "best sellers," demurs to the view that
a gaudy or garish exterior is needed to catch the public eye. The
enlightened child-author scorned such devices. Books, like men and
women--especially women--ought not to be judged by their backs, but by
their hearts. She confessed, however, to a weakness for "jackets" as a form
of attire peculiarly consecrated to youth.
Madame MONTESSORI cables from Rome as follows:--"The colour of book-covers
is of vital importance in education. I wish to express my strong conviction
that, where books for the young are concerned, no action should be taken by
publishers without holding an unfettered plébiscite of all children under
twelve. Also that the polychromatic series of Fairy Stories edited by the
late Mr. ANDREW LANG should be at once withdrawn from circulation, not only
because of the reckless and unscientific colour scheme adopted, but to
check the wholesale dissemination of futile fables concocted and invented
by irresponsible adults of all ages and countries."
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