Tackiness extraordinaire

More great vintage cover art filled with historical lust, wantonness, and unabashed pagan barbarity. I found some additional examples while poking through bookshelves in my corner office. All are from historical novels published in the 1950s through 1970s.

"Balkis, Queen of Sheba... men spoke of her as a witch, others called her a wanton, but all succumbed to her charm."


"A taut tale of swashbuckling adventure and primitive passion. How he saves a Mayan princess from the sadistic conquerors makes a story thrillingly alive with barbaric splendor."


"Was she a divine goddess or vile serpent? Writers have hotly debated this question."


"A young Renaissance rogue with the face of an angel and the morals of a tomcat." Mrrrroooow.


With a tagline like the one above, I couldn't resist scanning in the back cover of Quintin Chivas. Click to enlarge and read.


"So begins the tempestuous story of a wild affair, set against the lusty, colorful background of 18th-century England - a dramatic tale of dalliance and deviltry, licentiousness and intrigue..."


"A lusty panorama of the splendor and sensuality of ancient Rome... the bestial savagery and brutal blood-lust of the arena..."


Rogue adventurer! "I was mad for the smell of London, for the touch of English women, and even, by God, for English beer."


"Breathtaking excitement unrivaled in history, when the daughter of a king could be carried off and sold as a slave."


"A woman in the world of men. Her half brother... who forced her to share bed and throne with him in return for the fulfillment of her dreams and destiny..." Even classic historical novels like this one sometimes drew the short straw in the cover department.

For previous examples from the tacky cover art gallery, click here.

It's time for more tacky

More lusty adventures in the past! Another trawl through my basement bookshelves revealed more tacky historical novel covers -- with equally tacky blurbs.



"A picture of the wanton court of James I and of the beautiful, voluptuous Arabella Stuart, a woman who lived only to satisfy her own lusts."

"The dull pain in his heart gave way to seething anger; fury at this wench who thought Pagan de Beaugency's love was a plaything to be tossed aside at a woman's whim..."

"Romance and horror! The fabulous, magnificent story of the young Englishman, Dirk Young, and of the lovely Dutch girl who followed him across a savage land..."

(That's bad enough; the rest of the blurb goes beyond culturally insensitive.)



"Illegitimate daughter of a debauched nobleman; ragged pickpocket of the slums; wife of a titled wastrel; insatiable paramour of men of low estate and high. But finally and forever, she was a slave to the lust of Innocent Paradine, king of highwaymen."



"The spectacular story of a reckless adventurer who went where few men dared to go..."



"A mighty empire sliding into a pit of corruption, pride, and hatred."



"Bloody civil wars, tiger hunts, the passionate loves of Lalita, the sultry slave girl ... He learned all there was to know about life and death -- and desire!"



"Full of violence, lust, cruelty, and barbaric passion."



"A swashbuckling tale about the cutthroat pirate and a highborn lady... In the hot darkness, she had learned more about men than she would have guessed it possible to know."

If you missed the previous two galleries of tackiness, check them out here and here.

Tacky Tuesday

While going through my bookshelves last weekend, I found another bunch of vintage historical novels whose covers (and blurbs) are the epitome of tackiness.

I don't think anything can quite match the tackiness of the first batch, though. Has anyone actually read any of these?

"To restore the honor of Rome and of his own family, Severus Varus left the decadent life of Rome... his only hope was to join the barbarians."

From the back cover: "Violence, desire, and royal intrigue! With the clash of swords and the thrust of spears, The Purple Quest builds to an exciting climax in the city of Tyre and aboard the ships that for five hundred years had carried the Phoenicians to the farthest corners of the ancient world..."

"Godiva... beautiful but unhappy. Tom was a cautious man -- he never meant to spy..."

"Jezebel, whose bewitching beauty was a deadly weapon, would stop at nothing to further her greed for power. One man among many who came under her spell was Prince Michael of Judah."

"The tumult of battle and the decadent luxuries of harem life are all vividly recreated in this lusty novel of 16th century Turkey."

"Barbaric Greeks storm the walls of the great city, hungry for the wealth of the rich and highly cultured Trojan civilization."

"A magnificent, ringing novel of the days when lusty Northmen raped and plundered the civilized world."

"Unholy love! Amid the soft, scented corruption of the royal court, the mighty Cardinal Richelieu had held himself aloof... but when this steel-nerved man beheld the young Queen Anne, his body betrayed him, and for the first time his brilliant mind became a servant to his lust."

The epitome of tackiness

The garish depiction of a barely clothed Catherine de'Medici (as Jean Plaidy's Madame Serpent) on Susan's blog inspired me to go through my collection in search of equally tacky historical novel art.

Depending on your perspective, these are either the best examples I could find, or the worst. The tag lines on the covers are often as amusing as the artwork itself.

From the back cover: "The tormented love story of the Christian Knight and the wench of Islam unfolds against the bloody struggle for the Holy Land, in this lusty novel of the Crusades."

The story of Khurram, Princess Arjumand, Nur Mahal, and Parviz. "Lust, wealth, and ambition ruled their lives."

"Her mother changed the destiny of Rome when she ordered a handsome young slave to the bedside of the sleeping fifteen-year-old girl."

"From the lusty court of Queen Bess to the treasure-laden jungles of the New World, Shawn MacManus pursued adventure, fortune, and a treacherous Spanish beauty, Doña Elvira."

"Bianca, the beautiful wife of Don Luis, melted with love in Kit's arms."

"Whispered about by tavern tarts and court wenches, despised by the Queen, Frances Walsingham went on to bear another man's child and recklessly risked her very life for the love of the fabulous Irishman Rickard de Burgh."

"Percy Hotspur, Duchess of Harford, who lived and loved with wild abandon."