As I’ve noted before PAN didn’t seem to go in for branded merchandise as much as other publishers like Penguin but I do have a couple of examples that I’ve unearthed. The first is a shoulder bag and the second a Stratton powder compact. Were these given away or did they have to be paid for and has anyone any other examples we can add?
I’d like to say thank you to Jack for telling me about two books I didn’t know had dust jackets. I think it is probably the usual story of PAN updating from old stock especially with these to make them match the others in the series. The two are from “Battle Of Britain” namely T45 “Full Circle” with the Shepherd cover having a Glenn Steward jacket and “Eagle Day” with the Ettridge cover again with a Steward jacket.
As I’ve mentioned before Alan Bott and his wife were great friends with Hugh Walpole and often stayed with him at his house “Brackenburn Lodge” in the Lake District. In 1941 Walpole dedicated two of his publications to Alan. The first was number 9 in the MacMillan War Pamphlets series of 15
The second was “The Blind Man’s House” dedicated to both Alan Bott and his wife Josephine (nee Blumenfeld)
It was while at Brackenburn Lodge near Keswick that Walpole wrote his quartet the “Rogue Herries Chronicles”
On a different subject my daughter bought me a Kindle for my birthday and she was surprised at how pleased I was. I had to admit it was because it has wi-fi and my phone doesn’t so I can now check up on all those covers I’m never quite sure of, buy and then find I already have several (as long as there’s a McDonalds close by)
I had a recent enquiry from a fellow PAN Fan Jem who asked about PAN Pipers specifically MP67 “Australia:Her Story” (MP because it cost 5/-) and XP67 “Enemy Of Rome” (XP because it cost 3/6) and who wondered why PAN had used the same number for both titles?
This is a mistake on PANs part in that XP67 should really be XP70.
Whitakers Paperbacks In Print Winter 1965/66
If XP67 had been incorrectly labelled as ??47 (anyone know what it is?) then it might be a more understandable mistake.
Alan Bott joined the Royal Flying Corps as a member of the 70th. Squadron (Umpty Squadron) in April 1917. He was credited with 5 ‘kills’ during the time he was in France. It was after he joined the 111th Squadron that Captain Bott crashed in the desert on April 22nd. and became imprisoned by the Turks. He later wrote about his escape to Constantinople in Eastern Flights which had earlier been serialised in several publications notably Harper’s Monthly Magazine where it appeared in 5 parts from September 1919. The ‘crash’ was featured in a painting by Stuart Read which is currently in storage at the Imperial War Museum in London. He continued to fly and in 1928 he got his certificate of competence from the Hampshire Aeroplane Club.
This weeks blog will appear when a cat has stopped having kittens under our bed – and it’s not even our cat!
UPDATE Just one kitten but very sweet. Looks like it has got its colouring from all of the four possible fathers!
Life Size
Having had two family bereavements in very short succession I’ve not really had my mind on the blog for this week. I have managed to finish collecting a couple of sets published by Piccolo, one of which wasn’t helped by Amazon/Alibris/Abebooks/Biblio all having the same ISBN for two different titles and every time I got the one I didn’t want!
The ‘Dial’ series from Piccolo
The ‘Do You Know’ series from Piccolo
While looking through a selection of James Leasor covers I came across the French Edition Pocket of ‘Passport To Oblivion’ and felt the cover image looked vaguely familiar. I’ve thought this in the past but on further investigate would usually find they were just similar but this time these two covers are not just similar but identical. Both books were published in 1967 so which came first?
Left Edition Pocket N°569 <> Right PAN Books Ltd X649
UPDATE Since adding this post I now have the French title in my hand and in the back it says it was published on 30th December 1967 and on the back cover says “Notre Couverture: © Pan Books Ltd. Loudres” so that probably answers the question but did they use anymore?
Now the winter is behind us and spring is on the way (!!!!) our thoughts turn to holidays abroad and the obligatory guide book and PAN was there with their PAN Languages series for travellers. I love the covers by Goran Lindgren which show either typical national costumes or racial stereotyping depend on your point of view.
Douglas Adams would have been 61 today. He was one of PAN’s best selling authors and winner of a Golden PAN Award.
I have often wondered if these titles from the 1960’s were intended to be part of a series but there is no reference to them being any different from other titles from the same time. Were they seen as ‘classics’, a precursor to ‘Bestsellers Of Literature’ and why is the logo moved to the left. Are you thinking ‘Where have I seen a similar design showing the publishers logo with a laurel wreath?’ Click on the question mark to find the answer from 1954.
These are all the titles with the PAN/laurel wreath logo on the spine that I can find in my collectionbut does anyone know of anymore?
