I’ve often mentioned how unattractive I find some titles as I do judge a book by its cover. It was while sorting the 1974/75 titles in the ‘Grand Strategy’ series I found what an amalgam of different image sources had been used although not altogether unpleasing. I then looked at some of the later reprints and realised it was all down hill from then on. I have picked one title ‘Operation Sea Lion’ by Peter Fleming, Ian’s brother as I’m sure everyone knows, and scanned three versions from 1975, 1984 and 2003 as below. Peter often described himself as “a kind of uncle of James Bond’s”

……………. and in spite of me being determined not to I have added to Barbara Cartland’s covers page making the number now 102!

Just noticed that Rod Tayler died on January 7th and although he appeared in many films I always think of him in Hitchcock’s “The Birds” by Daphne du Maurier and the PAN Book cover by George Sharp from 1977.