The Great Yellowbacks

The widest range of classic crime fiction and thrillers ever assembled

History of the Yellowbacks

The yellowjackets or yellowbacks were a series of bestselling adventure and crime thrillers that had its origins in the mid to late 19th century following on from the ‘penny dreadfuls’.

They virtually began the mass market revolution of the early 20th century with a clear standard format and imprint/series livery (what would today be called branding).

Hodder & Stoughton published the yellow jackets (colloquially called the yellowbacks) in two main series with series run dates of: 1923-1939 and later 1949-1957.

The Yellowbacks Revival

The imprint and series focused largely on thrillers that were the bestsellers of their time. This retro revival brings back many of these masterpieces, now classics in their own way, and extends it further by including key titles from that period, along with sub-genres of noir, horror, gothic, romance, westerns. There are some perennial favourites and many rarities either lost or not easily available being revived in the current series. Others are collectible as omnibuses or complete volumes.

Writers and characters ranged from adventure heroes like Bulldog Drummond, Allan Quatermain, Richard Hannay or the Saint through thriller grandmasters Edgar Wallace and E. Phillips Oppenheim, crime and mystery maestros like Patricia Wentworth, GK Chesterton, Agatha Christie and the Detection club,  to westerns and swashbucklers like Zane Grey, Max Brand, Captain Blood and even romance or general fiction classics like Hermina Black, Denise Robins, Marie Corelli or Stella Morton. These were books that had storytelling at their heart and always entertained.

The Yellowbacks Design

The original Yellowbacks had both hardback and paperback editions.

The current reissues pay tribute to both edition designs, and use an amalgam of elements. They retain the complete yellow livery with the author’s name in blue beveled type with a simulated emboss effect, the signature outer white shadow and the book title in simple black. These reissues also retain the distinctive size of the original ‘pocket’ mass market paperback and retain genre colour variations on the type.

From our full first release list of almost 200 titles for retro and popular fiction buffs, readers can expect:

Perennial whodunit favourites

Classic storytellers

Hidden gems from literary writers 

Unique editions 

Roll of honour firsts 

Unique curated collections

Forgotten originals of great movies 

Curated extra/bonus material 

Easy read format and page layouts