With thanks to Didier Poiret
The two editions of this book (one published in 1992 and the other in 1994), a Russian translation of two novels by Frédéric Dard (Cette mort dont tu parlais & C’est toi le venin, both belonging to his “Romans de la nuit”) present some minute, and inexplicable differences. At first glance, it is not obvious, but the pose and the women lying are similar, yet different. Why ? Is the 1994 cover (picture on the left) deemed less aggressive, because of its less crude colours and because it features a slightly more clad woman than the one on the right (1992)? Even with not so subtle semiotic codes, there are subtle boundaries and differences in degrees.
International Crime Fiction Research Group 
It’s like the difference between the covers of the original Gold Label printing and the Hard Case Crime reissue, isn’t it? :)
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Thanks Realthog, this is very interesting. I was not aware of the differences there, I will check this out. I guess that in the Hard Case Crime reissues the differences might account for the large amount of time elapsed since the original printing ? While in Russia the period of time between editions is rather short.
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Sorry, it was my little, er, joke. It always amuses me how much more explicit the Hard Case Crime covers are than their precursors.
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Yes a history of graphic illustrations of crime fiction would be a rewarding project
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