Portraits of
She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed
part V

John Norris of Pretty Sinister Books sent me this scan, along with the note: "I have a little contribution for your She gallery. I found this in a used book store in Texas last April. It's a gorgeous copy with artwork very reminiscent of Margaret Brundage. The artist's name is hard to decipher. It looks like Maugham. There is no credit within or on the rear cover. And it comes from one of those nifty Dell Mapbacks (#339, published 1949). There's a map of the ancient ruins of Kor (aerial view) on the reverse." For who knows what inexplicable reason, the novel was stupidly rewritten for Dell by Don Ward.

The Ursula Andress film was a success world-wide. This is the French film poster for La Desse de Fem, with her worshippers & temple beyond the pallid shoulder of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.

Dover reissued Ayesha: The Return of She in 1978, & seems to have fancied portrait of She from some Victorian illustrator. This most affordable edition does do the budget-buyer a service by keeping the original 47 illustrations by Maurice Greiffenhagen.

Looks like Dover Publications likes extremes. Their trade paperback immediately above had a cover that was tasteful to a fault, presenting Ayesha as a PreRaphaelite ideal. But their hardcover omnibus featured this science fiction Harlequin Romance stylization for Ayesha, complete with pink evening gown & enough rouge to keep a whorehouse blushing for a week.