I sent a message to Tony Knight via his site and he replied that he is very happy for me to publish this (spoof?) item although I’m not sure all the other people mentioned would agree! I am also very grateful to Tony for sending me several example of the ‘Invisible Ink Puzzle Books’ as they are very few and far between and even better most of them still have their pens attached!
After visiting Val Biro I came back up through Woking the next day to visit Ken Hatherley. Ken started at PAN in the 1970’s and worked his way up to be Studio Manager in the 80’s We have communicated before but this was a chance to meet up in person and for me to see some of Ken’s bit and pieces. It turned out to be an expensive visit as I bought my Christmas present, the original artwork for a George Sharp cover, and a couple of original artworks for Piccolo titles off him. I have put together a page for Ken and added him to the Artists link at the top which now becomes Artist etc to give a wider scope for inclusion.
On my recent travels I picked up a printing block for the back cover of “The Explorer” by Somerset Maugham. These are not often found as they were usually recycled but the problem is which edition is it from? I have a second printing and although the ‘blurb’ is the same the layout isn’t.
I have put together a page to show the PAN/Piccolo related artwork that Val produced over many years. The page can be found by clicking on the Artists etc link at the top of this blog or by choosing More and then Artists from the main website or click here.
Dear Tim,
Wow! What a fine display of my work! So many of my Pan covers, and also my Pan Gumdrops! It is all put together beautifully, including the photos you took in my studio. Thank you for your interest, and your skill!
Very best wishes,
Val
I was very pleased to be able to meet up with world famous book illustrator Val Biro last Sunday, it was a pleasure to spend the afternoon with him in his studio in West Sussex. I think he was pleasantly surprised to see the 20 or so PAN covers I took, all from the early 50’s that he had forgotten he had produced. He also signed all my Piccolo ‘Gumdrop’ books and I am putting a page together about him this week.
If you want to find out more about Val, Cameron Cunningham runs the excellent official Val Biro website.
Fantastic news – I now have G704 ‘The PAN Junior Crossword Puzzle Book’ which reduces my wants list to 2. So if anyone out there has the ‘Third Junior Crossword Book’ or ‘The Boston Strangler’ but NOT the edition with Tony Curtis on the front please get in touch as I’m sure there is room for negotiation.
You wait for months and months for a PAN book to appear on TV and then you get three in as many days – well almost. Last Friday ‘Dr No’ was shown on the ‘One Show’ and yesterday ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘Goldfinger’ on the ‘Top Gear Bond Cars Special’
The books as featured, plus others, can be found under the ‘PAN as seen on TV’ link on the Miscellany page.
Not much to report but hopefully more interesting items coming up soon including wanted books update, a visit to more artists and the ‘Invisible Ink’ fiasco!
At the moment I am still adding later PAN and Piccolo titles, doing a few of each alternately as it can get a little repetitive. I’m trying to track down a copy of ‘Ghosts, Ghouls and Bones’ by Rowan Barnes-Murphy to complete my Cryptic Library set so if out anyone out there has a spare copy ………. Update 12/12/12 Now have a copy of G,G&Bs and added to display below.
PS I manged to find a copy of ‘James Bond Strikes Camp’ in English but it wasn’t the riveting read I’d hoped for!
You may remember I visited West Molesey in the summer to see PAN’s old book despatch centre. While there I met the MD David Harrison who now runs D2 Printing Limited from the building and he was intrigued and pleased by the printing connection. He wanted to advertise this in their office and has had some poster made up to show some of the PAN covers from the late 50’s early 60’s He has very kindly sent me a couple and when my A1 frames arrive they will look magnificent on the wall.
While sorting through some of the precariously balanced stacks I came across a 1971 edition of ‘Out Of The Silent Planet’ with an odd PAN logo which I also have on a few Walter Macken titles. It’s the same cover as the 1968 version but with a logo that looks like a stop gap between the old and new style. I was wondering if any one had a later edition where the logo doesn’t look as though some one has done a quick paste job?
