Having picked up a copy of ‘The Send-Off’ by Christopher Leach which I actually read and enjoyed I looked to see if PAN had published anymore of his titles but it appears this was the only one. What I did find was he has written five titles in the Topliner series, two published as hardback and three as softback.

Topliners were originally published by PAN/Macmillan and then taken over solely by Macmillan. Of the five by Leach it is odd that ‘Answering Miss Roberts’ clearly says Macmillan on the back but has a PAN ISBN. The two hardback say the jackets are designed by a familiar name, ‘Young Artists’

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Looking at a copy of ‘Options’ by Freda Bright I thought it looked different to the one I had. Turns out I was right in that there are two versions from 1882 where one has a photo of a lady in a hat on the front and a lady with a roll neck sweater on the back and reversed on the other. I’m left wondering why? Was it just a play on the title and how were they put on the shelves, a random number of each? PAN published some of her other titles in the 2000s.

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In the 1970s PAN published or republished a series of titles they called the ‘PAN Classics’ of which I had 27 and an image of a variant of ‘Jane Eyre’. I still wanted this but after ordering a couple of times when I ended up with the one I’ve already in spite of the picture showing otherwise I thought I’d give it a rest until I spotted a copy not on a ‘stack them high, sell them cheap’ site. For once I actually got the right one plus a copy of ‘Bleak House’ which I’m really pleased to add to the page as I hadn’t seen it before. I’ve no clue as to the artist of the latter but at nearly 900 pages it is quite a door stop. I’m left wondering how many more there might be out there still to find?

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Today (30th September) is a sad day in that it is the funeral of Pat, Kitty Peffer’s sister and Sam ‘PEFF’ Peffer’s sister in law. Pat never really got over the effects of COVID and complications arising from that. The funeral will take place in the small village where she lived and is for family and friends only.

I have posted several pages of Agatha Christie series covers from PAN in the past (‘Double Dagger‘, ‘White Top‘, ‘All Photo‘) but Fontana also published her titles with the most well know probably being with covers by Tom Adams. Not so common are those with covers mainly by Martin Baker called ‘the foxtail series’ because of the ‘g’ For no real reason I find I have amassed quite a few of these editions so for a change this week I’m including these covers just because I like most of them apart from the biography which spoils the set by having a photo and is B format unlike the others which are A format. I don’t think Martin painted any for PAN but Tom Adams did so I’m using that as my spurious link. If you know of any I don’t have, as a sad old completest can I ask please email details me.  I can’t find out much about Martin Baker, was he the same Martin who wrote ‘Artists of the Radio Times’?

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‘The Dragon’ by Alfred Coppel is a problem in that there were two versions of the cover but the date/printing information inside is identical as PAN seems to be using the same text block . The only way I can guess which is the oldest is by looking at the price. The earlier one uses the same Alun Hood artwork as the Macmillan hardback while the later is by David Bergen. Alfred Coppel was born Alfredo Jose de Arana-Marini Coppel (09/11/1921 – 30/05/2004) in America. He wrote several science fiction short stories and thirty one books of which PAN published just one more namely ’34 East’

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I’m always on the look out for reading, proof or reviews copies of PAN titles as they are usually a little different from the published edition. This time it’s an ‘Special Advance Reading Copy’ no less for ‘The Sisters’ by Robert Littell from 1987. Inside it says there was going to be a major PAN promotion but so far I’ve not found anything that could be related to a campaign for this title. It is different in that the PAN logo is at the top of the spine. Robert Littell had written seven novels by the time PAN published this one but it wasn’t until the 2000’s that they published any more of his books.

It’s been a busy week but I did manage to rescan all my copies of PAN number 2 of ‘Lost Horizon’ by James Hilton, This title must hold the record for the most editions with six different covers but with the same number from 1947 through to 1957. Artists for these covers include Stephen Richard Boldero (whose real surname was Hamel-Wedekind), Sax (Rudolph Michael Sachs) , J H Bruce and Roger Hall.  PAN also published it as G330 in 1960 with a cover by Samuel John ‘PEFF’ Peffer, again in 1966 as X558 with a cover by Hans Heinrich Helweg which PAN also used for 0330 105582 in 1980. PAN published a film tie-in edition in 1973 with film stills on the cover and at least two special editions for the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore which opened on the 23rd of April 1971 One of the covers features the Hans Helweg cover artwork.

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Just as an aside, and this may be hard to believe, but I do have other interests alongside PAN Books. The reason it has been busy this week is because we have had news on a decision we have been waiting for for nearly two years. The press release from SUSTRANS say “We’re thrilled to announce that planning permission has been granted for a multi-million-pound upgrade to the McClean Way, enhancing safety and accessibility for all users! The project will improve the route between Pelsall and Brownhills, providing a safer, direct path for walking, wheeling, and cycling. A huge thank you to our partners National Highways and the Department for Transport for their support in delivering this transformative project!” Having helped open up this disused railway track from the primeval swamp it was, this is fantastic as it means it will get a proper surface which currently can get very muddy in the winter. We are now moving along the Lichfield section of which we have cleared a third.

Dean Street Press publishes titles that have long gone out of print including 24 from Peter Cheyney many of which were published by PAN and use the same artwork. I have found at least five that have PAN artwork but are not the right titles so here is a quiz. Try guessing what these Cheyney titles were originally and for the answer click on the book cover.

When I had a better look I noticed the signatures had been removed so I email Dean Street Pres and Victoria kindly replied to say “These editions were published under my brother, Rupert Heath who died last year, so I’m afraid I cannot offer an explanation about the missing signatures. Personally I agree that the artists deserve recognition but Rupert was an art historian and did everything by the rules. Perhaps the images he found had already had the signatures removed?” If he was using the PAN editions which are mostly ‘PEFF’ ‘Keay’ or ‘Sheldon’ then they are clearly signed as in the 3rd PAN printing of 139 ‘Sorry You’ve Been Troubled’ but oddly not G160 ‘Dark Duet’ by Sam Peffer

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Having picked up a copy of ’11 Harrowhouse Street’ with a dust jacket recently I was really pleased to get a copy of the US edition of ‘Eastern Nights – and  Flights’ by Alan Bott, founder of PAN Books, also with a dust jacket. The book itself is fairly common but this is the first dust jacket I’ve seen although not the most inspiring. Still trying to find out if this was the ‘house style’ for a series as was common here in the UK?

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This weeks book with the same title and same number but this time two years apart is for Peter Cheyney’s ‘Uneasy Terms’ published by PAN as G280 in 1959 and 1961. Both covers are by Sam ‘PEFF’ Peffer but why PAN felt the need for a revamp but kept the exact same back cover I’ve no idea. Not sure who is modelling on the 1961 edition but it  doesn’t look like Kitty.

A while back I posted about David Hyman finding a copy of ‘’11 Harrowhouse Street’ by Gerald A Browne with a dust jacket.  My first thought was for a film tie-in but the cover underneath also mentions the film. My next thought was maybe the cover was a little ‘raunchy’ by PAN standards but now I think it is probably because the film dropped the word ‘Street’ from the title as does the book dustjacket. I am now pleased to say I have managed to get a copy of my own to add to my collection. Now if I can just find ‘Leviathan’ with a dust jacket …….

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This weeks title of same number with different covers is M9 ‘The Cardinal’ by Henry Morton Robinson. The 1960 edition has a cover by David Tayler while the 1963 film tie-in is by Glenn Steward. PAN also published another edition in 1969 as 0330 200097 using the Glenn Steward artwork but no longer mentions the film. Henry Morton Robinson (September 7, 1898 – January 13, 1961) was an American novelist. He was born in Boston and died an unfortunate death in New York, Robinson fell asleep in a hot bath after taking a sedative. Three weeks later, on January 13, 1961, he died in New York of complications from the resulting second and third degree burns.

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I was intrigued to see an article by Porter Anderson in last weeks ‘Publishing Perspectives’ I hope they don’t mind as I’ve abridged it as follows;
“Penguin Random House UK unveiled a new Penguin book-vending machine (a successor to the Penguincubator) at Linlithgow Academy in Scotland. The machine is a gift from the publishing house and gives students access to more than 70 titles from Penguin’s “Lit in Colour” reading lists making the work of writers of colour more visible in schools. Jackie Kay, a former Makar or poet laureate of Scotland, joined the presentation. Our discerning readers may note that some of Kay’s books can be seen waiting to be sold in the machine. (‘May Day‘ & ‘The Lamplighter’) Kay’s books are published not by Penguin but by PAN Picador. Indeed, Picador has donated 150 copies of Kay’s books to the inventory of the machine from Penguin”
I think ‘Pancubator’ rolls of the tongue easier than ‘Penguincubator’ so I’m putting it out there for future use, just saying!