The first time a photo appeared on the Book Review’s front it was of the author whose work was then blazing through New York society.
“Our portrait of Edith Wharton, whose serial novel in Scribner’s, ‘The House of Mirth,’ is so eagerly discussed this summer . . . is the first portrait printed in The New York Times Book Review in eight years or more,” the editors wrote in the Aug. 12, 1905 issue. It was also the first time an author photo appeared like this on the cover: “The departure from custom is surely justified by the widespread interest in the subject.” The photograph — as exquisitely composed as a scene in “The House of Mirth” — features Wharton in a lace tea dress at her desk.
When this issue appeared, “The House of Mirth” was captivating — and dividing — New York with its less-than-flattering depiction of high society. This was at a time when many novels were first published in serial form. Initially, the Book Review wasn’t a fan, writing in April 1905 that “it develops in a rather grim fashion,” but allowing that “we must be grateful for these glimpses of the inner social circle, given by one who has the magic password.” By June 1905, the Book Review was raving about the novel, and by August, literary New York could talk of little else. “The recently printed assertion that ‘The House of Mirth,’ like most ‘society’ novels, promised to reach no logical or dramatic conclusion, seems to be sufficiently disproven in the latest installment,” the Book Review editors noted. “Indeed the novel has a well-wrought plot which cannot fail to develop a striking denouement.”
And here’s the cover as it appeared in the paper that weekend:
Tina Jordan is the deputy editor of the Book Review and co-author of “The New York Times Book Review: 125 Years of Literary History,” which will be published in the fall.
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When Edith Wharton Graced the Cover of the Book Review - The New York Times
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