Tried to attempt the annual ‘throw out’ and failed due to always finding something that causes a distraction. This time it was a large pile of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books we have acquired over the years from friends and relatives who would otherwise have put them in a bin. I picked one up and was immediately hooked by the fact the artwork for one story was by Brian Sanders, a popular PAN book cover artist as  featured on the website. Investigating further I found George Sharp, Roger Coleman, Michael Johnson and Alan Lee. My wife spotted a mention of ‘JAWS 2’ being shortly published by PAN that made me start looking at other covers and who painted them. I can’t find a name for ‘JAWS’ but the Roger Kastel movie poster was used for later editions as was the Lou Feck poster for ‘JAWS 2’  Ken Hatherley, studio manager at PAN in the 70’s still doesn’t get the credit for the iconic JAWS teeth he designed!We went to see ‘JAWS’ at the cinema the day it came out, queuing for ages and then being the last ones allowed in. No seats left so we had to stand at the back but how we all jumped when that face appeared at the boat window ……..!

One seller currently has three 1st edition 2nd printing copies of ‘Casino Royale’ on eBay UK at the moment, plus a very poor copy of ‘Moonraker’, I shall be watching!

UPDATE Really tatty ‘Moonraker’ £71 (20 bids) Another on at the moment at £16 (11 bids) The three copies of ‘Casino Royale’ went for £24 (14 bids) £27.10 (27 bids) and £33.54 (25 bids) so looks like the bottom may have fallen out of the market for ‘Casino Royale’ if not for ‘Moonraker’ at the moment.