Robert W. Chambers 
The King in Yellow 

First published in 1895, “The King in Yellow” is a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers for which the author is best known. The title of the collection refers to a fictional forbidden play referenced in the first four of the stories of the collection which induces its readers to madness. The remainder of the stories of this volume have a less eerie tone and are written in the romantic fiction style common to Chambers’ later work. “The King in Yellow” is a prominent example of the type of weird fiction which would become increasingly popular near the end of 19th and first part of the 20th century. It is specifically cited as a prominent influence on the work of H. P. Lovecraft. The ten stories which comprise this volume are as follows: “The Repairer of Reputations”, “The Mask”, “In the Court of the Dragon”, “The Yellow Sign”, “The Demoiselle d’Ys”, “The Prophets’ Paradise”, “The Street of the Four Winds”, “The Street of the First Shell”, “The Street of Our Lady of the Fields” and “Rue Barrée”.