Victorian Yellowbacks & Paperbacks, 1849-1905

The Hermitage Antiquarian Book Shop is proud to announce the publication of a major new bibliographic tool in 19th Century English publishing, Victorian Yellowbacks and Paperbacks, 1849-1905: Volume One, George Routledge, by Dr. Chester W. Topp. Yellowbacks, originally published as inexpensive books to be sold in railway bookstalls, represent a major cultural window through which we can view Victorian England. Their importance was recognized by noted Victorian book scholar Michael Sadleir as early as 1938 when he published Collecting Yellowbacks. In 1951 the entire second volume of Sadleir's famous XIX Century Fiction was based on his personal collection of Yellowbacks. Yellowbacks also occupy a prominent position in the five volume catalogue of the Robert Wolff collection of 19th Century fiction (1981-1986). However, until now there has never been a systematic bibliographic study of Victorian Yellowbacks and paperbacks.
Dr. Chester W. Topp has spent 30 years compiling the definitive bibliography of over 25 publishers of Victorian Yellowbacks and Paperbacks. Based on his own extensive library of 1700 Yellowbacks and 1900 19th century paperbacks and an exhaustive search of every major trade and literary journal of the last century, this series of bibliographies represents a unique and major accomplishment in bibliographic studies in the tradition of Jacob Blanck, Michael Sadleir, Joseph Sabin and others.

In the late 1840s, English publishers began issuing inexpensive volumes intended primarily for reading on trains. Bound in straw boards covered with paper that was often yellow, the books were dubbed "yellowbacks." They continued to appear until at least 1915. Topp, a collector of Victorian yellowbacks and paperbacks, intends to provide the first comprehensive bibliography of these cheap Victorian books. His multivolume work, arranged chronologically by publisher, will cover all 25 publishers who issued yellowbacks. It's no surprise that the first volume is devoted to George Routledge, a prolific publisher whose "Railway" series alone ran to 1,277 titles. For each book Topp provides size, original price, and date and history of publication. With 32 full-color illustrations, this is a valuable research tool. Recommended for specialized collections in large public and academic libraries.
- Joseph Rosenblum, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.