Recently I bought a bundle of Leslie Thomas titles for just one of them so you can imagine how miffed I was to get a message from the seller to say he had found them all apart from one, the only one I really wanted! I settled for a full refund as I had all the others but if anyone can help with a copy or a scan of the back cover and date I would be very grateful. I have the front cover from the sellers listing and have added it to the page for X700 ‘This Time Next Week’

It’s always nice to come across a ‘new’ series and this time it was for ‘The Magic Road’ by Kevin Scally from 1984 of which there are four titles as far as I can ascertain. They are all hardback and a larger size and designed to be easily navigated by young children but I’m not so sure about that myself. I’ll get my 5 year old nephew to test them out next time he comes to visit. I’m still tempted to scan the whole book in and make the arrows ‘hot spots’ so you can do it online.

It’s getting easier to sit at the computer since the hip operation but not as easy to leap up and get a book or two from the library shelves when I need to scan them in. Hopefully I’ll be back to it soon. Oddly I was rung up last week by a district nurse to make an appointment to have my surgical clips removed. I later realised the date she had given me was five days too soon so I rang back on the same number to discover they had no record of me on their system and no date which was supposedly in their diary and in fact no referral to them from the hospital at all. I await to see what happens.

The blog is on hold while I recover from a week in hospital. Last Monday, when I was out on our disused railway track I, managed to get the lace of one boot wrapped around the hooks of the other resulting in me come to a very abrupt halt. When I tried to stand up I realised something was amiss but this time I’ve only had half a hip replacement and not a full one like last time, What is it with me, hips and art exhibitions in Wiltshire? Last time is was in Salisbury when at least I got to see the Richard Chopping exhibition whereas yesterday I should have been in Westbury for the Tom Stimpson exhibition. Hopefully normal service will be resume next week.

PAN didn’t publish many of Catherine Cookson’s novels, apart from three for children under their Piccolo imprint, but Corgi did and when I saw a piece of original artwork by Dave Pether for ‘Tilly Trotter Wed’ at a reasonable price I couldn’t resists. This artwork was used first on the series where Cookson’s name appeared as above but also reissued on a later edition. I’ve put together a few other examples on a page HERE. (Thanks to Boscobel Old Hall’s secondhand bookshop for most of them) Dave Pether was born in Southall in 1943 and lived and worked there for all his life. He went to Twickenham Tech Art College and contributed to the well known OZ magazine and was also a musician. His band ‘The Muleskinners’ were part of the early 1960’s art school R&B scene. A Motorbike accident cut short his musical career but after college he worked in an animation studio and then joined the Young Artists Agency and John Spencer before setting up his own illustration company ‘Dave Pether Illustration’ in the 1970s. In the 1990’s Dave started teaching art at Brunel University and taught there for 12 years. During this time he moved into doing video game illustration including working on the very popular ‘Lemmings’

Back on April 20th BBC Radio Four did a dramatisation of ‘Casino Royale’ and I was going to listen to it but it appears not to be available anymore. It looks like it was a very condensed version running for just under sixty minutes. What reminded me was Jeremy Birch send me a pile of clippings from ‘The Times’ which mentioned it and the article was illustrated with a copy of PAN X232.

Having posted a couple of Canadian editions of PAN titles recently, HERE are two more from Douglas Adams. They are almost the same as the UK printings apart from saying ‘Printed in Canada’ and having the ISBN printed on the front covers as well as the back. There are often other differences such as the paper type or card cover thickness but not this time and not even any green stained edges!

In 1937 W D and H O Wills produced a set of 40 cards featuring ‘Famous British Authors’ They were included with the 20’s pack of cigarettes as they were too big to go in the 10s. What I was impressed by was the number of authors that can be found to have works published by PAN. Maybe I need to add links to them, well maybe one day. I was intrigued to see the National Portrait Gallery included them in their collection and will sell you prints at various sizes and prices plus greeting cards and a license. You can buy a set for under £5 then it’s easy enough to produce your own and as there is no artist credited I presume they are out of copyright?

One of the Wills cards, specifically number 39, prompted me to rescan all the PAN book covers of titles by Sir P(elham) G(renville) Wodehouse. They are 107 ‘Summer Lightning’, ‘112 ‘Thank You Jeeves’ and six later titles with cover artwork by Edward Mortelmans from1968. Wodehouse was born in Guildford on 15/10/1881 and died in New York on 14/02/1975 just a month after he was knighted. He wrote 71 novels and 42 plays plus numerous short stories.

Just to complete the trio of Wodehouse connections this week I picked up a later copy of  X709 ‘Nuts in May’ by Richard Gordon. The earlier edition has a quote from Wodehouse on the front cover. I am puzzled as to who gave away the 1973 edition as although it mentions PAN inside it says on the cover it was a TOTAL special edition. Now is that TOTAL the magazine, the toothpaste, the fuel company or something else completely?

I think I have mentioned it before but Tom Stimpson‘s sister Lesley is organising an exhibition of some of his original work in Westbury starting on the 14th June when it would have been Tom’s 70th birthday.

Why not visit Maurice at Zardoz Records and Books at Unit 4, Mill Lane, Hawkeridge, Westbury, BA134LD while you are there. Thousands of books for just a pound.

As an aside, and just to show I’m not a one trick pony, I am also a ranger for a disused railway line that is being repurposed as a walking/cycling greenway. The first of four sections has been surfaced and an official opening ceremony took place. I was surprised to be asked to cut the ribbon it but this was probably because I have been doing management work on it since the last century. What they didn’t tell me, because of health and safety gone mad, they were kiddies scissors that wouldn’t cut a jelly hence the laughs all round!

I recently picked up a couple of Canadian PAN editions, one with the same cover as the UK but printed in Canada, the other with a different cover also printed in Canada. What was interesting, well I though so, was that they both had green dyed page edges. The books are ‘Hungry as the Sea’ by Wilbur Smith and ‘La Luna’ by George Malko.

Rog Peyton asked me if he could have a scan of the first and second printing of ‘Diary of a Nobody’ by George and Weedon Grossmith, a book from1892 which I still find funny after several readings. While scanning I took the opportunity to scan at a larger size and to recheck the board cover colours. I’m still not sure about one that appears light blue but as it doesn’t have a dust jacket I think it is just a sun faded version of the dark blue one I already have.

While looking through my copies of ‘Diary of a Nobody’ I found a couple had the same Foyles sticker but one also had a postcard in it which on investigation is a story in itself. The card was printed by ‘The Sampson Press’, Woostock and the artist was Alison McKenzie. More about Alison and her sister can be found in the book ‘The McKenzie Sisters: The Lives and Art of Winifred and Alison McKenzie’ by Aylwin Clark. Click HERE to see a photo of them.

‘Let’s Go’ were a series of travel guides started in 1960 by the Harvard Student Agency. They developed from a 20 sheet mimeographed pamphlet, put together by 18-year-old freshman Oliver Koppell, into a comprehensive range of 11 titles covering more than 40 countries. It was in 1989 that PAN started publishing them in the UK with St Martins Press doing the same in the US. They ceased publication in 2020 as a result of COVID.

I’m always enjoy watching Jules Burt’s videos even when they are not necessarily connected to PAN but HERE is one that is. He looks at the Great PANs and it’s fascinating to see all the covers amongst which are some I have the artwork for and some of which are real clunkers.

I know there are many books about bookshops, looking at them from many different angles, such as the famous drif’s guide but I’ve just read six by bookshop proprietors. Two are by Jen Campbell and four by Shaun Bythhell. Click HERE to see them. PAN gets a mention in ‘Confessions of a Bookseller’

Shaun runs ‘The Book Shop’ in Wigton and I have been there a couple of times. I’m now trying to track down when we might have visited to see if we recognise ourselves in any of the books. I remember it was just like in the movies when we dropped in, being able to park right outside, but as to what I bought …..?

Always nice to spot a cover in a series or by an author when you thought you had got them all but recently, like buses, not one but three came along. Two were Victor Canning titles, where his name is in a distinctive style, as above, with the titles being ‘Firecrest’ and ‘The Scorpio Letters’ I don’t know why PAN felt the need for another cover for ‘Firecrest’ but evidently they did. I don’t know which one came first as they are both 1973. The other was a copy of ‘Smiley’s People’ by John Le Carre but the Canadian edition which has taken so long to arrive I had forgotten all about it. It mentions Canadian TV on the cover and is printed in Canada.

Having mentioned David Graham’s ‘Down To A Sunless Sea’ recently I found I also had a copy of his novel ‘Sidewall’ from 1983. Looking on the net there are several sites which show a different cover but all from the ‘stack them high, sell them cheap’ sites so I’m wondering if this cover actually exists as they all list it as a stock photo? I’d really like to know if it lists the cover artist as the style looks familiar.

Just a reminder that the ‘Vintage Paperback and Pulp Book Fair’ is on in London next Sunday. Unfortunately I can’t make it I but will look forward to seeing the highlights in Jules Burt’s video.

While looking at John Atkinson’s site I spotted what I thought was a photo of the spines of PAN Bond books. On closer inspection I found they were not a photo but painted by Roo Waterhouse who specialises in ‘Shelf Portraits’ Roo has also done one of mainly PAN Agatha Chrsitie spines and another featuring a few PAN S F titles. Some images are available as prints, tote bags, cards and mugs and to see more click HERE. I pleased to say I now have one of her prints hanging on my wall. If you do feel like buying something don’t forget to mention you saw the link on my site.

Several years ago I picked up a bundle of original artworks by William Francis Phillips including one for a  Penguin title and a few for New English Library titles but a couple remained a mystery, well that was up to now. I was casually looking at images of book covers and was delighted to see one I recognised. It was for ‘Summer of the Red Wolf’ by Morris West from NEL so that leaves one more on the unknow covers list from this batch, click HERE to see it. (Sorry the covers for Edge and Steele are poor but can’t find mine and these are off the net)

There has been a couple of items relating to ‘The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy’ on eBay recently which made me have a second look but then decided that they may be worth the asking price to someone but I couldn’t bring myself to pay that much. One was for an original ‘Don’t Panic’ towel from PAN with an asking price of £220 while the poster was on offer for £52.

Something

I have been going through newspaper archives looking for articles relating to PAN Books and I have found a few. The first couple relate to the arrival of PAN Books with the announcement of the thinking behind them and forthcoming titles. I have plenty more to use in future blogs.

     
The next clipping refers to problems with titles being delayed.

Some titles from 1951.

      
I’d love to get my hands on one of these from 1955.

     
Last one for this week the opening of the West Molesey despatch centre by Alan Bott’s wife, Josephine. Also there was Ralph Vernon-Hunt who was later to become the face of James Bond on the 1960’s book covers.

     
Me in almost the same spot in 2012.

It was back in 2016 that I first made contact with Rog Peyton and in spite of numerous emails since, usually letting me know I had made a ‘typing’ error, we’ve only recently got together. Rog had got a couple of advertising boards for book signings by Peter F. Hamilton and was I interested? Although they were for titles a little later than my usual cut off date I said “Yes” and so we met up at Rog’s house. We both agreed it was good to be able to talk about books as so many others tend to switch of when they become the subject of a conversation.
Wikipedia states, rightly or wrongly; Roger “Rog” Peyton (born 1942) is an English science fiction fan, bookseller, editor and publisher from Birmingham. Peyton has been an active member of science fiction fandom since 1961, when he co-founded the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. From 1964 to 1966, he served as editor for the British Science Fiction Association’s critical magazine Vector. He also started the British Science Fiction Association’s fiction magazine Tangent. He began a long tradition of working on science fiction convention organizing committees with work for Brumcon 2, the 1965 Eastercon. Since then he has attended over 150 science fiction conventions including being one of only six (The Magnificent Six) who have attended all 45 Novacons and in 1979 won the Doc Weir Award for his services to fandom.

In 1971 Peyton and business partner Rod Milner launched a part-time bookselling business, Andromeda Book Company, in Old Hill, a few miles outside of Birmingham. Moving into the city centre to Suffolk Street in 1973, Peyton gave up his job in the building industry to sell books full-time, which was to last until 2002 when the businesLs went into voluntary liquidation. Following the demise of Andromeda, Peyton went solo selling on the internet as Replay Books. During the Andromeda years, their ventures included co-editing the Venture SF series of reprints of classic adventure science fiction from Arrow Books (1985–1989). Peyton and Milner also ran the small press Drunken Dragon Press, which published four titles amongst which was the 1988 collection of parodies ‘The Dragonhiker’s Guide to Battlefield Covenant at Dune’s Edge: Odyssey Two’ by David Langford.
Rog also very kindly gave me a copy of ‘The Time-Lapsed Man’ which is a 1990 hardback reprint by his Drunken Dragon Press of a title by Eric Brown and originally published by PAN in 1989. These days Rog spends part of his time compiling list of book cover artists for different publishers including PAN and also  walking his dog, Nellie.
PS Did you recognise Terry Pratchett and Neil Gamain in the photo?

Adrian Harrington, booksellers of Tunbridge Wells, is well know for selling James Bond related material, often with a John Gilbert connection. I myself have bought items from them not only from Tunbridge Wells but also when the shop was in Kensington. I was just looking what they currently have in stock and was interested to see an item, namely four DIY volumes of Bond stories and related titles including one with ‘The Book of Bond’ and ‘The Bond Dossier’ and yours for only £650.

Going off at a tangent I recently picked up a couple of later Picadors which are signed limited editions and published in association with Goldsboro Books but I’m not quite sure why. The one is a hard back edition in a slipcase of ‘The Kills’ by Richard House and the other is ‘Selection Day’ by Aravind Adiga.