Portraits of
She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed

Ayesha is shown as an exotic ice queen in this 1986 Target Classic paperback edition of Ayesha issued in London. The back cover blurb says, "Past the furthest borders of Tibet into unknown lands, across the vast & deadly deserts & through the eternal snows wander Leo Vincey & Horace Holly, in pursuit of a legend -- the fabled Ayesha, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.

"Ayesha lived centuries ago & she would live again, for she could not die. And when Leo & Horace enter her dark domain, they are plunged into a world of danger & adventure, & ancient magic from beyond the dawn of time."

Too many artists have seen Ayesha as a B-film actress instead of severe, beautiful, & frightening goddess. That at least would seem to have been the inspiration for the idiot who provided the cover for this 1980 edition of She issued as a Corgi paperback in London. The blurb writer did rather better in a florid sort of way:

"Three men on a perilous journey, seeking a living legend. A journey which took them through great mountains, yawning caves, measureless swamps, deep into the heart of unexplored Africa. And there, in the womb of the world itself, they had one of the most extraordinary experiences ever undergone by mortal men. For none who looked upon the face of SHE could remain unchanged...

SHE who had power over all things living & dead...

SHE who kept the flaming Pillar of Life...

SHE-WHO-MUST-BE-OBEYED."

The 1967 Airmont Classic paperback of She is a first edition "thus" by right of adding a new introduction by Don Wollheim, which Don's daughter & heir Betsy has permitted me to make available Here! The cover's portrait is a bit too Barbi but mysterious all the same. The back cover blurb reads rather tastefully:

Ah, but here's the classic image of Ayesha that Ward Lock, London, used for a couple of decades. With flame sprouting from her brow & seeming to float upon a starlit landscape, there's an ethereal quality suggestive of angelic powers disguising demonic passions. The text on the inner flap of this dustjacket says:

"The late Sir H. Rider Haggard was a master of the craft of story-telling, & in Ayesha, the Return of She he wrote one of his very greatest romances, full of mystery & vivid in adventure. Few writers have handled the theme of supernatural philosophy with so sure & convincing a touch, wit hthe result that a book like Ayesha not only keeps the reader's attention rapt, from the first page to the last, by the sheer power of its narrative, but also quickens his interest in the ideas above & beyond the mere story that is told."