<Tr> <Th> Publication date </Th> <Td> 1993--2013 </Td> </Tr> <P> Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated history books published in the United Kingdom by Scholastic, and part of the Horrible Histories franchise . They are designed to engage children in history by presenting the unusual, gory, or unpleasant aspects in a tongue - in - cheek manner in contrast to the formality of lessons taught in school . The books are written by Terry Deary, Peter Hepplewhite and Neil Tonge and illustrated by Martin Brown, Mike Phillips, Phillip Reeve, and Kate Sheppard . </P> <P> The first titles in the series, The Terrible Tudors and The Awesome Egyptians, were published in June 1993 . As of 2011 with more than 60 titles in the series, the books have sold over 25 million copies in over 30 languages . The books have had tie - ins with newspapers such as The Telegraph, as well as audio - book tie - ins distributed with breakfast cereals . </P> <P> Terry Deary studied at drama college and worked as an actor - teacher at the TIE company in Wales . He then became a theatre director and began to write plays for children . Many of his TIE plays were eventually rewritten and adapted into the Horrible Histories book series . Deary said "I was in this small touring company, taking plays for children round Welsh village halls . I did find I had this facility for knocking ideas into scripts". </P>

When was the first horrible histories book published