Wednesday 3 November 2010

Sex-Mad, Butchering Bulgarians

In addition to the covers on vintage paperbacks I enjoy other ways in which the publishers tried to sell the books. Here is a fun example from two editions of Candide with a comparison of the first five chapter titles.

Royal Books Giant Edition 25
Published 1953 by Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation

Published 2005 by Yale University Press

Chapter One

How Candide Was Expelled From a Noble Castle Because of His Affair With a Fresh, Tempting Young Virgin
How Candide was raised in a noble castle, and how he was driven away

Chapter Two

How Candide Was Lashed and Tortured by the Bulgarians
What happened to Candide among the Bulgars

Chapter Three

Candide Escapes from the Sex-Mad, Butchering Bulgarians
How Candide saved himself from the Bulgars, and what became of him

Chapter Four

How Cunegonde Was Raped by Lustful Soldiers, and How Paquette, the Maidservant, Gave Freely of Her Delights
How Candide met his old philosophy teacher, Doctor Pangloss, and what happened to him

Chapter Five

Storm, Shipwreck, Earthquake, and How a Sailor Chose the Wrong Time to Buy the Favours of a Wench
Tempest, shipwreck, earthquake, and what happened to Doctor Pangloss, Candide, and Jacques the Anabaptist




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