Judging The Scarlet Plague by Its Cover

I was going to make a "Judging a Cover by Its Book" of The Scarlet Plague, but the one that I have looks like this:

*Sigh*

Mine was printed in Germany by Amazon Distribution, in case Amazon's typical "Click to LOOK INSIDE!" sign didn't already tip you off.




Nothing more needs to be said about it, really. It's better than no cover at all -- well, the jury is still out on that one -- but I must confess that I'm mighty glad that there's at least one good thing that can be said for it: it was cheap. That's it. That's all I'm going to say about this cover, because it's too awful for words and I would feel very bad making a review about it. It's like if a toy-reviewer bought a baby's toy for a cent -- maybe the toy would make for good comedy, but you can't help but feel guilty all the while.

Fortunately, and quite contrary to my expectations, there are several other stand-alone versions of London's dystopian tale, some with brilliant covers, some with meh covers, and some that, well, look like the one I have. So I won't be judging my version of The Scarlet Plague by its book, but I might take the two best plus one meh covers and review those very briefly in a single JACBIB.

I like the abbreviation JACBIB. Jack-bib. Hehe.

Also, I have here a link to an illustrated, free online version of The Scarlet Plague, whence I took some of the early illustrations used in the Impressions review:
http://thenostalgialeague.com/olmag/london-the-scarlet-plague.html