The Illustration of the Master Henry James and the Magazine Revolution [Hardcover]

The Illustration of the Masterexamines the crucial role of the illustrated press in the formation of the reading public and the writing profession during Henry James's lifetime. The book re-examines James's stories, criticism, and travel essays in light of the explosive growth of the magazine industry in the United States and abroad at the turn of the century. Using previously unpublished archival sources, Amy Tucker delves into James's negotiations with publishers, editors, and literary agents, as well as his interactions with some of the celebrated artists who were assigned to illustrate his work. Reproducing more than 120 illustrations, advertisements, and other images that accompanied James's work, this book reveals the vital interplay of word and image that helped define literary culture at a moment when popular entertainment and high art had not yet gone their separate ways.

The Illustration of the Masterexamines the crucial role of the illustrated press in the formation of the reading public and the writing profession during Henry James's lifetime. [Amy Tucker] explores the explosive growth of periodicals in the latter half of the nineteenth century, remarking that Henry James and the modern illustrated press had come of age together. . . Extensive notes and bibliography complete an absorbing investigation of the crucial role of illustrations upon the writing profession and its audience during Henry James's lifetime. By following [Henry James's] lead, [Amy Tucker] has uncovered a broad cast of characters engaged in this new literary formincluding his literary agent, friends, editors, publishers, illustratorsand allows all of them to speak for themselves through their own writings, through correspondences with James, or about him, and through their works of art . . . The resulting text often generates the kind of suspense and pleasure that come from eavesdropping on a conversation . . . Amy Tucker has made an important contribution l³-