I recently heard from fellow PAN Fan, Gareth Brown, who sent me some photos of the original artwork he has plus a fantastic rotary book stand, me jealous, not half! He said “I lost a number of books in a flood years ago and I’ve not been the in-depth collector over the years, this was mainly in the 70s/80s.  But I went to see the Art Director at Pan when I was a teenager to express my fandom and he very kindly gave me these”
The covers Gareth got were for ‘The Eighth Mrs Bluebeard’, ‘Lucy Crown’, ‘The Case of the Hesitant Heiress’, ‘Deep Water’ and ‘Holiday for Inspector West’

On the 20th March there was a auction of several lots of books including PANs and Penguins at Warren and Wignall, Auctioneers, in Leyland, Lancashire. The auction was also the online via “The Saleroom’ website. The three PAN lots were as follows;
1) Pan Books, a large collection of the first numbered series, 1 – 443, (missing numbers 164, 182, 191-197, 210, 213, 241, 251, 253, 271, 297, 301, 341 & 392), also including six of the first un-numbered editions. These sold for £2,100
2) Pan Books, a collection of mainly assorted G series paperbacks, 1958 to 1966, various authors including Ian Fleming, Agatha Christie etc. including a small number of the first numbered series, 1947-1958, approximately 142 in total. All of the Ian Fleming books appear to be first Pan Books editions, one of the Agatha Christie books is also first Pan Books edition, The Mysterious Affair at Styles is first Pan Books 6th printing. These sold for £300
3) Pan Books, a near complete collection of GP series paperbacks, 1-102, 1947 to 1958, (missing GP11, GP31 & GP101), various authors including Ian Fleming and Agatha Christie etc. includes some duplicates. These sold for £200
To the prices you needed to add 25% commission if you were in the room and another 8% on top if by phone or online. What about VAT? They do not ship so I suppose you had to go and collect them in person. If those are the going rates then even if I sold all my books I don’t think I’d make enough for that Round the World cruise!

Having picked up another copy of ‘Lust for Innocence’ by Dianne Doubtfire I was amazed to find it was an unsigned copy. I have three more copies of this title, all signed, plus ‘Reason for Violence’, signed and at least another four of her children’s books all signed. To find one unsigned seems to be the exception to the rule. Oddly I had not noticed that one copy of ‘Lust for Innocence’ and the ‘Reason for Violence’ are both to the same person but I don’t remember buying them at the same time. I’m wondering if the copy of ‘Lust for Innocence’ to Andrea might be Andrea Newman as they were both writing around the same time? Dianne Joan Doubtfire was born in Leeds, Yorkshire on 18th October 1918 and attended Harrogate Grammar School and Slade College of Art. She became a lecturer and tutor in creative writing and twice chaired the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School plus writing a play for the BBC. She married an artist-engraver (Graham Channon?) and they lived on the Isle of Wight where she set up the ‘Wight Writers’ Dianne died in West Sussex in May 2000. PAN also published two more of her novels namely X565 ‘Kick a Tin Can’ and ‘The Flesh is Strong’

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.

‘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.

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.

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?

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!

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’

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.

‘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.

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.

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’

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’

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” 

I was sorry to read of the passing of another well know name in the genre of S/F. Brian Michael Stableford was born 25/07/1948 in Shipley, Yorkshire and died 24/01/2024 in Swansea. He was a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who published more than 70 novels, His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but later ones dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford. PAN published at least seven of his novels including the six in the ‘Hooded Swan’ series.

Thank you once again to Rog Peyton for pointing out something I had not noticed. PAN X73 ‘Rape of the Fair Country’ by Alexander Cordell published in 1961 with artwork by David Tayler shares a part of the back cover with the front cover of PAN X152 ‘The Hosts of Rebecca’ also by Alexander Cordell.

Back in 2020 I posted a page of 56 John D Macdonald ‘Travis McGee’ covers hoping this was all of them but as usual I was wrong. I’ve now found another one, a 1982 edition of ‘The Empty Copper Sea’ just two years after the previous edition. The 1980 cover features a car while the 1982 has a semi clad lady, did PAN feel the need to ‘spice’ it up a little?

While looking at pages on Facebook I came across the artwork of Omer Atakan where he paints retro posters for films including several Bond titles. One in particular caught my eye as he has included a very familiar cover, ‘Goldfinger’, featuring the Pat Owen artwork.

John Winton was the pen name of John I Pratt (Winton was his mother’s maiden name) He was born 03/05/1931 in Hampstead London and had career in the Royal Navy in which he rose to Lieutenant-Commander serving in the Korean War and during the Suez Crisis. Whilst still in the Navy, he wrote six comic novels featuring Commander Robert Bollinger Badger DSC RN otherwise know as “The Artful Bodger” PAN published five of the titles in this series namely ‘We Joined the Navy’, ‘We Saw the Sea’, ‘Down the Hatch’, ‘Never Go to Sea’ and ‘All the Nice Girls’ but not the sixth ‘Good Enough for Nelson’ This weeks original artwork by Glenn Steward is for the fourth title but disappointingly it had been matted when framed and the matte stuck on with double sided sticky tape so it will have to remain as it is. ‘We Join the Navy’ was made into a film in 1962 with a movie poster painted by Tom William Chantrell.

PAN also published three other titles by John Winton of which two were fiction namely ‘The Fighting Téméraire’ and ‘HMS Leviathan’ while ‘Sink the Haguro!’ was non-fiction. Winton wrote a total of 14 fiction titles and 29 non-fiction titles if Wikipedia has them all listed correctly.

I was really pleased to hear from Paul Duncan that his opus ‘James Bond : Dr. No’ will be published by TASCHEN today (19th) Unfortunately the limited edition is a little beyond my price range so I will have to wait for the trade edition. Modesty forbids me mentioning I get a name check!

This weeks original artwork from Glenn Steward is for ‘Come Again Nurse’ by Jane Grant. Jane Grant was a pen name of the author (Evelyn) Barbara Blackburn Leader. She was born in Herefordshire on the 15th July 1898. She wrote 35 novels between 1926 and 1971. Her other pen names were Barbara Blackburn and Frances Castle (a joint pseudonym with Peggy Mundy-Castle). Barbara wrote four nurse books as Jane Grant namely ‘Come Hither Nurse’, ‘Come Again Nurse’, ‘Sisters Under Their Skins’ and ‘Round the Clock Nurse’ but only the first three were published by PAN. She died in Chelmsford in April 1981.

PAN were quick to bring out ‘A Royal Baby Book’ in hardback in 1981 shortly after the announcement that Princess Diana was expecting a child. They didn’t know what it might be so the filled half the book with photos of her and Charles and the other half were blank pages for you to stick in your own photos and cuttings. Prince William was born in 1982 but whoever had the book didn’t feel the need to add to it. I don’t think it’s ever been read and cost me all of 99p!

In 1983 PAN reissued several Arthur Hailey titles with a strapline along the top saying ‘The World’s Number One Storyteller’ There were seven with this but as ‘Strong Medicine’ wasn’t published until 1984 it looks like it was up to RUPA Publishing in India to issue their version using it.

Talking of India my doctor is very good in that she always makes sure I have regular health checks and when I saw her in November we chatted away and I asked her what she was going to do for Christmas? She said visiting family in India. When I came out after seeing the nurse about tablets last week my doctor was just arriving for her surgery. I asked her how the holiday went and straight away I was taken into her consulting room where she wrote down her full itinerary. I came out 20 minute later feeling a little guilty as there were patients there with appointments glaring at me. There is a reason for this story in that my doctor left notes with all her relatives she visited to look out for PAN X705 ‘The Third Pan Junior Crossword Book’ by Burgess Robin. PAN was, and still is, very big in India. I told her about the book once and she has never forgotten I’m looking for it, she even made a note of it on her prescription pad when I met her in the street. I plotted her journey on Google which looks as though she had covered a large part of India but when you actually look it’s still a very small part.

The Penguin book dispensing machine (The Penguincubator) crops up every now and again but having mentioned the  ‘Look at Life’ short film ‘Cover Story’ last week I had a better ‘look’ at it and what caught my eye was a different paperbacks dispensing machine. Not only that it has two PAN titles in it. ‘Road to Volgograd’ by Alan Sillitoe is second down on the left while ‘So Disdained’ by Nevil Shute is below that..

This weeks Glenn Steward artwork is for ‘A Lamp is Heavy’ by Sheila MacKay Russell. I think this is one of the more minimalist covers by Steward where he signed on the original artwork but his name only appears in block capitals along the left edge on the book cover. Sheila Mackay Russell was an Albertan nurse and best-selling author. Despite the disapproval of her parents, Russell left her hometown of Airdrie to train as a nurse in Calgary and Edmonton. Based on her nursing experiences, in 1950 she authored the semi-autobiographical ‘A Lamp is Heavy‘ which became an international bestseller. It was made into a film titled in the UK as ‘The Feminine Touch’, in Canada as ‘A Lamp is Heavy’ and in the US as ‘The Gentle Touch’ I’ve also two German editions that use the artwork from the PAN front cover.

I’m always very skeptical when I see books listed as ‘rare’ so when I saw a film tie-in PAN edition for ‘Arnhem‘ (filmed as ‘A Bridge Too Far’) I checked other sites and couldn’t find another copy. Luckily nobody else wanted it so I got it at a reasonable price. Having said I couldn’t find another copy they’ll be everywhere now.

Bob Fowke is holding an Exhibition of his 70s Sci-Fi Art at the Bishop’s Castle Arts festival. He will be at the Open studio, upstairs at the ‘Barn’, Writer’s Lodge, Bishop’s Castle, on the 16th, 17th & 18th February 2024, 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. Bob painted several covers for PAN before going on to write and illustrate his own books