‘Golden threads in the sober city woof’: London and the First Women Writers of The Yellow Book

Abstract

Of the eighteen writers whose work appeared in the inaugural volume of The Yellow Book, only three were women: Ella D’Arcy (1857-1937), ‘George Egerton’ (Mary Chavelita Dunne, 1859-1945), and ‘John Oliver Hobbes’ (Pearl Richards Craigie, 1867-1906). This article considers the London publishing context within which D’Arcy, Egerton, and Hobbes wrote their pieces that were included in that first issue of the new magazine in April 1894. The women’s representations of London in each of their works are discussed in relation to their common portrayal of artistic characters who must make and potentially mistake their way in its contemporary metropolis.