This weeks random author is Anthony Berkley Cox (05/07/1893 to 09/03/1971) He wrote under several names including Anthony Berkley, Francis Iles (Iles was his mother’s maiden name), A Monmouth Platts (Platts was a house he lived in when young) and A B Cox according to Wikipedia. PAN published one of his novels where he was writing as Anthony Berkley, namely 128 ‘The Poisoned Chocolates Case’ and two as Francis Iles which are 42 ‘Malice Aforethought’ and G132 ‘Before The Fact’ I’ve also included a few later Iles titles HERE from PAN although not amongst my favourites!

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Thanks to Alysoun Saunders, who was archivist at PAN, I’ve just received the newsletter that included the article regarding Gordon’s 100th birthday.

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I’ve been after a Piccolo copy of ‘The Gruesome Book’ for a while but the asking price was always a bit too high for me so I was pleased to find a reasonably priced copy. The cover artist is Ivan Lapper who painted several covers for Piccolo titles which might appear in a later blog. I’m pleased to say this copy is signed  by the editor, Ramsey Campbell, and also one of the contributors, Brian Lumley. I’m wondering if the Brian in the dedication is Brian Lumley? Ramsey Campbell (born 04/011946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for over sixty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awards. Three of his novels have been adapted into films. Brian Lumley (02/12/1937 to 02/01/2024) was an English author of horror fiction who was born in County Durham. He joined the British Army’s Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring to become a full time professional writer. 

This weeks random writer is Richard Martin Smith (17/03/1915 to 31/10/2001) PAN published three of his titles with probably the most well know being ‘The Tower‘ which was combined with ‘The Glass Inferno’ to make the film ‘The Towering Inferno’ I was interested to see someone asking £91 on Amazon for ‘Stanfield Harvest’ as I paid 50p for it at a local charity shop.

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PAN Piccolo published a couple of editions of ‘Island of the Great Yellow Ox’ by Walter Macken. Both have text illustrations by Charles Keeping but the cover of the 1972 edition is not attributed while the 1977 is by Charles Front (photo) Front illustrated the Piccolo edition of ‘A Child’s Bible’  but he is probably best known for designing the lettering on the 1965 Beatles album ‘Rubber Soul’ Front is also the father of actress Rebecca Front.

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Agatha Christie covers came in many different styles including what I called the ‘Double Dagger’ from PAN, the ‘Foxtail’ series from Fontana and I’m now wondering what to call these from Pocket. The odd ‘g’ on the front is not the same as on the back. I’m not sure what the font is but I’m not sure I like it. 

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I spotted this cartoon on a Facebook page and it appealed to my OCD side. I do find myself tidying up random bookshelves and straightening pictures, especially  in pubs.