This bizarre and, I have to say, hideous illustration is from the front cover of a book I picked up on my perambulations yesterday: an edition of Hadrian VII I didn't know existed. In fact it's a 1987 attempt by Picador Classics, an imprint of Pan. Not only do I really dislike the image and the design, they also manage to get the title wrong. Rolfe titled his novel in full Hadrian The Seventh - it's a small point, I know, but I sometimes think one of the tests of a true Corvine should be whether they know which is the correct title for the novel. (Just to confuse matters further, Peter Luke's play about Rolfe/Hadrian was titled Hadrian VII).
