That Edith Wharton disliked A. B. Wenzell's illustrations for The House of Mirth has long been recognized, and the images themselves have received critical attention. Virtually unknown, however, are the negotiations regarding illustration and presentation that took place among Wharton and her editors and publishers at Scribner's during this novel's preparation for serial and hardcover publication. Drawing on the Scribner's archives, I uncover the process via which Wharton, Edward L. Burlingame, William Crary Brownell, and Charles Scribner II determined the look of this novel in all its published forms: the eleven installments in Scribner's Magazine, each accompanied by an illustration; the 1905 hardcover, which included only eight illustrations; and the twelve “pictureless” copies of the latter that were custom-bound for Wharton. The files of the Scribner's art department contribute further hitherto-unknown information about the media of Wenzell's artworks and the fees he earned. Wharton's views on illustration and promotion, I argue, were closely tied to her sense of herself as a literary author, and were treated respectfully by her publishers even as they sought to balance her preferences with commercial imperatives.