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Yellow Perils: Difference between revisions

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(Added important historical context.)
(The statement that the spines of these books were "ragged, crumbling, or missing" is false. As issued, they were all regular products of the paperback publishing trade, with normal spines.)
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[[Yellow Perils]] was the term coined by [[Patrick Playfair]] used to describe the bright yellow pictorial covered books produced by [[C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.]] from London in the early 1900s. Most of them were books on magic and other allied arts. Although Pearson had no real interest in magic, just selling books. The covers of most were bright and clean, the spines however were  more often than not ragged, crumbling or just plain missing. [[Image:YellowPerils.jpg|right]]
[[Yellow Perils]] was the term coined by [[Patrick Playfair]] to describe the bright yellow pictorial covered books produced by [[C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.]] of London in the early 1900s. Most of them were books on magic and other allied arts. Sir Cyril Arthur Pearson had no particular interest in magic, but he was a prolific publisher and author who used many pseudonyms. He wrote a number of instructional books on folkloric forms of divination, including card-reading and oraculum sortilege, under names such as Professor P.R.S. Foli and Mrs. John C. Le Breton.  


These books were originally very inexpensive at only one shilling or two shillings a piece. There was debate among magicians at the time if these books offered for sale primarily to the public were considered exposure. Professional magicians starting referring to them as "the yellow perils"—a term derived from the xenophobic 19th century metaphor used to depict peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world—because their secrets were being made available so cheaply.
[[Image:YellowPerils.jpg|right]]
 
These books were originally very inexpensive, at only one shilling or two shillings a piece. Most of them had yellow card-stock covers over-printed in black and red.There was debate among magicians at the time if these books offered for sale primarily to the public were considered exposure. Professional magicians starting referring to them as "the yellow perils"—a term derived from the xenophobic 19th century metaphor used to depict peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world—because their secrets were being made available so cheaply.


Raymond Ricard noted that there were 33 titles published, though not all were related to magic or the allied arts.
Raymond Ricard noted that there were 33 titles published, though not all were related to magic or the allied arts.

Revision as of 19:06, 9 September 2022

Yellow Perils was the term coined by Patrick Playfair to describe the bright yellow pictorial covered books produced by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. of London in the early 1900s. Most of them were books on magic and other allied arts. Sir Cyril Arthur Pearson had no particular interest in magic, but he was a prolific publisher and author who used many pseudonyms. He wrote a number of instructional books on folkloric forms of divination, including card-reading and oraculum sortilege, under names such as Professor P.R.S. Foli and Mrs. John C. Le Breton.

YellowPerils.jpg

These books were originally very inexpensive, at only one shilling or two shillings a piece. Most of them had yellow card-stock covers over-printed in black and red.There was debate among magicians at the time if these books offered for sale primarily to the public were considered exposure. Professional magicians starting referring to them as "the yellow perils"—a term derived from the xenophobic 19th century metaphor used to depict peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world—because their secrets were being made available so cheaply.

Raymond Ricard noted that there were 33 titles published, though not all were related to magic or the allied arts.

These books now are highly sought after by some collectors.

Titles [1]

References

  1. ↑ Yellow Perils by Raymond Ricard in Perennial Mystics No. 16 (2001)
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