NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- They 've been teasing and tantalizing female readers with images of muscular men oozing sensuality and the pretty women they are destined to save and then fall in love with . The `` beefcakes and bodices '' book covers have helped Harlequin sell their romance novels for more than half a century . Powerful men and demure women were stock in trade in early Harlequin novels . `` It 's always great to feel like you 're the girl in the book and the handsome guy is coming to rescue you , '' said Liz Lenz , 25 , who has been reading Harlequin novels since she was a teen . `` It 's always fun for the reader . '' Those covers also seduced Winnipeg , Canada , teacher Louann Bergen . `` There 's usually good-looking males on the covers or something intriguing to make you want to read more , '' she said . `` I guess they change with the times , but they still have that same allure and that same passion behind them . '' As sort of a 60th anniversary gift to its faithful readers , Harlequin is displaying original artwork for its covers in an New York exhibit called `` The Heart of a Woman : Harlequin Cover Art 1949-2009 . '' And before you sniff disdainfully at romance novel art , be reminded : That artwork sells a lot of books . Romance fiction is responsible for $ 1.375 billion in book sales every year , according to Romance Writers of America . The organization says more than a quarter of all books sold are romance novels , satisfying 51 million readers every year . The Harlequin exhibit comes from boxes and boxes of old novels that employees discovered at the company 's headquarters in Toronto , Canada . `` I pawed through literally thousands of paintings , '' curator Elizabeth Semmelhack said , adding that she saw apparent shifts in women 's historical desires began to emerge . Watch the curator discuss some favorites » . `` Rather than being retardataire [ outdated ] , many of these images are extremely cutting edge , '' she said . `` There are images of women doctors before women were really embraced by the workplace . There are women who are adventuring around the world before independence is really part of women 's culture . '' Many early Harlequin covers , like that of Elizabeth Houghton 's `` Island Hospital , '' in which a man , woman and grizzly bear stand poised in confrontation , depict more than one ( fully clothed ) character in the crux of a suspenseful moment . `` You do n't know , is the couple going to get together ? Is the hero going to save the heroine ? The happy ending is not on the cover , '' Semmelhack explained . The illustrations have changed their tone over the years . Where cover art used to hint at psychological intrigue , it 's grown to instead promise a passionate physical conclusion . `` From the earliest covers , there 's sort of an implied sexual tension , but there is n't much direct imaging of passion . That does n't happen until the late '70s and into the '80s , '' she said . `` By the time you hit the sexual revolution and passion becomes of primary importance on these covers , then that lover 's embrace in many ways signals the happy ending right there on the front of the book . '' And in recent decades , the once revolutionary depictions of the lovers ' raw embrace have been reduced further . `` Today , covers might just be the undressed male body . He might even be headless . He 's so truncated that all you 're doing is looking at the object of desire , his masculinity . '' Although Harlequin romances are predominantly written for and read by women , according to Semmelhack , the majority of the publisher 's cover illustration artists have been male . `` It is interesting that you have men imaging female desire , '' she said . `` It seems to work ; the books certainly sell . '' This year , Harlequin books , which publishes 1,200 new titles annually , reported first quarter earnings up more than 13 percent . Debbie Macomber , who has published 153 books since 1983 -- and is most recently author of a May New York Times Harlequin best-seller , `` Summer on Blossom Street . '' -- visited the `` Heart of a Woman '' exhibit on opening night . `` There were some that really made me laugh out loud , '' Macomber said . `` It was amazing to see the role and the progression of the women 's movement in the cover art itself . I get letters from 13-year-old girls and women who are in their 90s , and that 's one of my goals as a writer : to write books that are relevant to my readers . ''
Images of tight ##s , bulging biceps , sex and glamour in magazines . Harlequin displays half a century of romance book covers in New York . Curator : Covers go from psychological horror to passionate physical conclusion . Reader says books ` ` still have that same allure and that same appeal ''