Last week while looking at the early Vallins covers by Val Biro I was reminded of how similar they were to early PAN editions of ‘The Last Days of Hitler’ by Hugh Trevor Roper, probably because they also had covers by Val Biro. I’ve scanned these and later editions on a page and will update the pages where they are listed by number as I go along. Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper (Born 15/01/1914 Glanton, Northumberland Died 26/01/2003 Oxford) was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. and wrote a range of historical topics, but particularly England in the 16th and 17th centuries and Nazi Germany. His most widely read and financially rewarding book was titled ‘The Last Days of Hitler‘ It emerged from his assignment as a British intelligence officer in 1945 to discover what happened in the last days of Hitler’s bunker.
Having wished artist Kaye Hodges a Happy New Year I also mentioned a cover I had featured a while ago namely ‘Superior Women’ by Alice Adams with a cover by Kaye.. I asked her if she could recall it and she replied “I can vaguely remember the book was about a selection of women who grew up together, set in America and met occasionally over the years. One of the people who modelled for the cover was one of the artists daughters who I worked with’ Gary Keane’s daughter Francine. At the time of the illustration David Hockney was using coloured pencils in portraiture. This, I think, set a trend which was reflected in publishing, graphics and illustrations. I still have the original in my portfolio”
Having pulled PAN 162, ‘Good English’ by G H Vallins, off the shelf for last weeks blog I also collected 161 which was three editions of ‘Murder Is Easy’ by Agatha Christie. As far as I can tell PAN only published this once as a later edition in 1973 with a photo cover unlike other titles with numerous variants. I love the strange old woman on the cover of the 1951 edition but have no idea of who K. P. the artist might be, anyone help?
