I recently acquired the press promo pack for the 1960 film “Midnight Lace” and included was a single page insert from PAN. I’ve scanned this along with the rest of the pack and made into a flash book. On the single page it states:
“PAN Books are the publishers of the paper-back edition of “MIDNIGHT LACE” They are issuing 2,000 showcards to their many stockists throughout the country backing up this promotion. Additional showcards can be obtained free on request from Ad-Sales Dept”
What happened to those 2,000+ showcards, did anyone think one was worth keeping or did they all get thrown away?
Monthly Archives: August 2013
PAN Horror Books
After reading the excellent article “The Nightmare Painters” relating to PAN Horror Books by Johnny Mains in issue 4 of the ‘Illustrators’ Magazine (I’m giving it a plug as it’s gave me one in issue 1 and it’s also a really good magazine) ) I realised how few titles I had actually got. On looking on eBay I found a complete set at 99p but with the dreaded words ‘collection only’ which I usually avoid but then realised the post code was for a road just 2 miles away. In went the bid and although they were just a little more than 99p I picked them up the next day and the majority are in very good condition. I’ve scanned them all in and put them on one page as there are not many sites that show them all at the same time. The dates are for the actual dates in the books so not all first.
To complement the Horror books I’ll make a page for the Ghost books as I think I have them all so watch this space.
Anyone Know The Artist?
Phyllis Whitney 1903 to 2008
Still finding bits and pieces of artwork and managing to identify the title. This week it has been ‘Silverhill’ (1967) by Phyllis Whitney. Although PAN published several titles by her I’ve only found one other example using the same style of cover ‘Snowfire’ (1973) She also wrote ‘Spindrift’ in 1975 which would seem to tie in with the others but is a completely different style.
What I would like to know is who painted the original cover? I’d suggest Michael Johnson but is it good enough for him?
“Flight Into Danger”
Visited the annual book fair at NT Baddesley Clinton on Saturday and this time it wasn’t raining. Vast range of books of all vintages and it’s run by someone who knows and appreciates them. Came away with a few bits and pieces, some later PANs, upgrade copies and one I thought was interesting. It was ‘Flight Into Danger’ and had a sticker on the front for Singapore Airlines in-flight library which got me thinking of how many other inappropriate titles could they have chosen? Also when putting together the page I couldn’t help but notice the authors billing chances backwards and forwards over the editions.
