Email comments, corrections, additions to Gemma
Compare with trends in Harlequin Historical cover designs.
| September 1977 to 1983/84 | 1984 to March 1986 |
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| The earliest Masquerade Historicals. Subtle differences in branding between these three examples. The Rose represents Mills & Boon. | First fully-framed cover image. Rose logo redesigned. The words "Historical Romance" feature prominantly. | April 1986 to June 1990 | July 1990 to December 1991 |
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| No fixed layout. The Masquerade/Masquerade Historical logo switches back and forth between these three designs. | A new Masquerade logo is introduced minus the Mills & Boon rose for the first time. Still no fixed cover design. | January 1992 to September 1993 | October 1993 to June 1996 |
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| Same understated logo. Design not precicely fixed but I think of this as the "box or stripe" era. | Branding changes to Mills & Boon Legacy of Love and a new rose design. Returns to a fully framed cover image. The words "Legacy of Love" are so prominent that you will occasionally find second-hand copies being sold with this listed as the book title! | July 1996 to November 1998 | December 1998 to June 2000 |
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| Continues the same frame but rebranded to Mills & Boon Historical Romance. Along the way the M&B Rose and Historical Romance logos picks up a registered trademark symbol. | Shape of the frame changes. The oval frame changes to best suit the cover image used. M&B Historical line is assigned purple from now on as its signature colour. | July 2000 to June 2004 | July to December 2004 |
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| The "purple swoosh" is born. Author and title may be in either gold or white. | The "purple swoosh" shrinks a little and now holds the Historical Romance branding rather than the author and title. | January 2005 to May 2007 | June 2007 to present |
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| The "swoosh" is tweaked again and it also contains images to evoke the setting of easily categorised books. The Historical Romance logo changes. | The Mills & Boon Rose disappears and the Historical logo is tweaked again. Purple branding now at top and bottom. |