Recently on eBay there was an auction for some original Pat Owen paintings of Andy Murray playing in November 2016 at the O2 arena in London when he beat Marin Cilic in the ATP World Tour finals. I wasn’t sure about bidding as nothing really related to PAN apart from Pat also painted many covers for PAN but at the price they were very cheap. There were three which became four and arrived the day after the auction ended. They are signed on the front and on the back and must be amongst some of Pats last work as he died in 2017. It turned out it was Pat’s brother-in-law that was selling them.
This weeks same number two covers is for PAN G148 ‘God’s Little Acre’ by Erskine Caldwell from 1958 and 1960. I suspect the 1958 one is by Hans Helweg although not signed while the 1960 one clearly is and for which he got paid £42. It doesn’t follow the usual pattern in that the film tie-in cover came first and the later doesn’t mention it on the front but has the same back cover as the earlier with a film still. I prefer the 1960 cover but I might be biased as the original artwork is hanging on my wall. My copy is also signed by Erskine Caldwell. The 1963 cover, X323, is also by Helweg and for this ‘re do’ he got paid £50 16s.
Sometimes when I’m looking at the asking price for a book on eBay I’m left wondering if it is genuine or a typing error as in this example.
This is not a rare title and many copies can be found for a fraction of that price. PAN published two editions, X101 from 1961 with a cover by William Francis Phillipps and 0330 241001 in 1974.
STOP PRESS Since I mentioned this I have had an email to say the price has been reduced by ….. £384.99!
Don’t ask ChatGPT to make a picture of a long haired black cat like our Hecate reading a PAN copy of ‘Casino Royale’ on her birthday if you don’t want to be disappointed. It couldn’t even spell ‘Casino’ right! Mind you I didn’t tell it she only has three legs with one of her front ones missing but it’s got her eyes right with one darker than the other, pity it’s not the same on both images.
