PAN published three titles by C(live) S(taples) Lewis, namely his ‘Space Trilogy’ which I have mentioned before but I was intrigued to get a letter from fellow PAN Fan, Jeremy Birch, to tell me what he had found in one of his copies. It was the order of service for the memorial to Lewis held at Magdalen College, Oxford plus a newspaper cutting. In 1925 Lewis had been elected a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College, where he served for 29 years until 1954.

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‘Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key’ is an Italian film directed by Sergio Martino. The picture stars Edwige Fenech, Luigi Pistilli, and Anita Strindberg. The film uses many elements from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1843 short story “The Black Cat” and acknowledges this influence in the film’s opening credits and is available on the internet but in Italian. The PAN ‘Fifth Ghost Book; is from 1971 and the film from 1972 so we probably know who took the image from where. The artist is not stated.

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Another addition to the ‘PAN As Seen On TV’ page which I spotted on Facebook but apologies to whoever posted it as I can’t find them now. It was Adam Parsons on SKY News from around the 8th March 2024. It’s not very clear but I think it might be a full set of PAN Bond titles plus some Bond hardbacks.

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Thank you to Rog Peyton for letting me know I had missed the passing of Christopher Priest who wrote at least six books PAN published. I’ve put them on a page HERE. Christopher Mackenzie Priest (14/7/1943 to 02/022024) was born in Cheadle and wrote over 40 books of fiction, non fiction and short stories. He was strongly influenced by the science fiction of H. G. Wells and in 2006 was appointed Vice-President of the international H. G. Wells Society. Priest wrote the novelisation of one of my all time favourite films ‘Short Circuit’ as Colin Wedgelock.

Nice to pick up another three signed Jack Higgins titles of which one was a PAN and  this time it was for ‘The Graveyard Shift’ I’ve added it to the PAN/Higgins page so you need to scroll down to see it. Just wondering who Harry is?

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I’m still on the look out for the missing crossword puzzle books on my list although I don’t know why as most of the later ones look the same but just a different colourway and number. I did manage to pick up numbers 17, 26 and 27 from the 1970s and have added them to the appropriate page. Not sure if I’ll make a concerted effort to complete the lists, more just a case of as I see them and more importantly at a price I’m happy to pay!

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I’m pleased to be able to announce another fantastic video from Jules Burt featuring more of my negatives/photos from Sam Peffer. I know it takes Jules a long time to put these together but the end result is amazing.

I’ve always said PAN should be celebrating their 80th anniversary this year as they were incorporated on the 1st September 1944 so why did they celebrate it on the 29th last week? Answers on a postcard please. While at The Ned, London they took the opportunity to award a posthumous ‘Golden PAN’ to Lucinda Riley (16/02/1965 to 11/06/2021) which was collected by her son, Harry Whittaker, for her book ‘The Seven Sisters’

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Don’t forget ‘The Paperback and Pulp Book Fair’ in London on the 24th March. I’m hoping I can repeat last times arrangement of staying with the family in Kent and nipping up for the day, fingers crossed, as it is well worth a visit especially as it is combined with an ephemera fair where they also have books.

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‘WOB’ (World of Books) are certainly pushing their green credentials with a plug I got in an email from them. What I was more interested in was a photo that was included of one of their warehouses which might explain why so many times I don’t get the book I was expecting, I’m always surprised when I do. With that many books you’d think they’d have a copy X705!

I saw a piece of framed artwork by Glenn Steward for sale and although not PAN it related to his other passion, that of cycling. One of the main reasons for buying it was that it came with a letter with what I presume was Glenn’s address. We seem to lose track of Glenn around the turn of the century so as a shot in the dark I have written to the present occupants but I’m not really expecting a response.

The painting is interesting as it has a 3D effect and when I took it out of the frame I could see why. It is made up of seven layers with drop shadow added on the two card layers while the painting is on acetate sandwiched between Perspex layers. Click on the above to see it as it is framed.

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I have been trying to identify the mystery man in the grey suit in this photo for quite a while and it turns out, thanks to Bernard Crossley, to be Glenn Steward so the artists are from left to right, Rex Archer, Hans Helweg, Sam Peffer, Glenn Steward, Edward Mortelmans and Pat Owen at the infamous Bonham’s auction in 1991.

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As mentioned before PAN was always happy to cater for all markets and a couple of titles caught my eye especially ‘How To Flatten Your Stomach’ mainly because I have been having to expose my midriff to be wired up for scans after my recent heart attack. There was a follow up of ‘How To Trim Your Hips And Shape Your Thighs’

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The ‘PAN As Seen In Film’ section has always been a bit thin but now thanks to Robin Harbour it has increased by one. He spotted Conrad Phillips reading a copy of ‘Dr No’ in the 1963 film ‘The Switch’

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Sorry if anyone tried to visit the site last Friday afternoon and found it down as there was a glitch with the SSL certificate apparently being out of date which it wasn’t. I contacted the hosting company to log the fault and later found the site was back up so messaged them to say ‘Thank you’ for whatever they had done to which they replied they hadn’t done anything. I think they need to read their own bulletin board as there was a message on it saying they were experiencing a problem with SSL certificates! They did come back to me to say “Oh yeah, apologies for the inconvenience. The issue was fixed quickly so we didn’t thought that it would affect your website. Apologies again”