I have not been posting messages lately as I thought I was going to lose my www.tikit.net domain name. I last renewed it 9 years ago and it was only when my front page disappeared I realised something was amiss. Apparently the company I had registered with was sending the renewal notices to an email address I had 9 years ago and I haven't a clue as to what that was or what the user name and password might be to log in so the domain name was marked for deletion. Because I couldn't furnish the email address they had on record they wouldn't intially tell me anything but eventually after many emails, phones calls and faxing of documents I now have my own website back!

I'm adding later titles which still have the yellow and black logo on the spine if not always on the front as with later printings. I have gone off at a slight tangent in that I have now started to included Piccolo titles (1971 onwards) and I especially like their Explorer books for the cover art work. I think I now show all of the titles but if you know of any others please tell me. There are also a few of the Factbook series here because I found I'd already got several and I think I may find myself adding more if I come across them at a reasonable price.

I am also still collecting the teengae fiction titles in the Topliner series but most of them are ex school stock and have been 'well loved' if that's the correct expression!

Safely returned from Egypt with no sign of the 'gippy tummy' everyone said was guaranteed. We did feel like the only tourists in Cairo and for the two days we were there we had a mini-bus, driver, guide and the pyramids to ourselves! No luck with book shops but have managed to get a copy of one of the very elusive titles - 'Junior Crosswords Book 4' Currently adding later titles by author, a few of the Topliners and some Piccolos.

At the moment I am still scanning in the later titles (the ones which still have the black and yellow logo on the spine) going through in alphabetical order and currently I have a pile of "F" books in front of me. For children's fiction I am adding the first 43 Piccolos from 1971 as I find them as I am also doing with the Topliners. I also need to finish sorting the Georgette Heyer and Pan Romance sections but can always find something more interesting to do each time I start! Off to Egypt for a Nile cruise the week after next but I am resisting the temptation to take a copy of "Death On The Nile" with me.

I noticed that The Book Palace are selling an original piece of artwork by Sam Peffer. I looked at it and thought that it was familiar but on checking covers I can't work out which it could be, that is if it was for PAN and not another publisher. Look at the images below and let me know what you think as it seems to be an amalgamation of two different covers?

I was just wondering how many editions, published as paperbacks, were also published as hardbacks? This train of thought was brought on by having just got a hardback boxed copy of T27 "Red, White & Rose" from 1967. I know there was a hardback version of "The Dam Busters" from 1955 but not sure why, something to do with the film premiere perhaps? Why was X560 "Salt Is Leaving" also published in a hardback library edition in 1966 and not other titles? Why GP91 "Secrets Of Suez" from 1957 and "Born To Hunger"? Does anyone else have other examples apart from the numerous BYO copies?

I often get asked about the codes that PAN used such as G or X and the answer is really quite simple, it relates to the price of the book so here goes with a quick guide.

Originally PAN books with just numbers were 1/6. Some were reissued with a dust jacket which often had 2/0 on it. Later just number titles all became 2/0. GP and G were 2/6, X were 3/6, A were 4/0, M were 5/0, T were 6/0, U were 7/0, E were 7/6, C were 8/0, R were 8/6, W were 10/6, Q were 12/0, H were 12/6 and Z were 15/0. PAN Pipers were the same but with an P added to it so TP were 6/0. Does anyone have any more to add?

For the younger ones amongst after 1971 a predecimal 1/0 became 5p so Z as the most expensive range at 15/0 would be 75p today.

Off to the Isle of Wight for a few days. People tell me it's stuck in a time warp, just like going back to the 50's or 60's. Do you think this means they may still be selling PANs from that time as new? Dream on!

Thanks to Dave for bringing this to my attention. It looks like PAN must have had a large 2nd print run of 'You Only Live Twice' in 1966 as they appear to have used this edition with 3 different covers. I had YOLT as a 4th printing from 1974 but it was Dave who pointed out he had the same cover but as a 2nd. This seems to be very common as I soon picked up one off eBay for a few pence. I also have the film tie-in as a 2nd and 3rd printing plus the dustjacket added to the original cover. Anyone know of anymore, not just James Bond? I will add several I know of at a later date.

Having just acquired a few more copies of the 'PAN Record' I decided I ought to do something with them. To that end I experimented with several of the page flip programs and decided to use the free version of 'FlashPageFlip' I then decided to buy the program but I really can't see what more I get for the money apart from removing the plug for the program on the front page?

Have scanned in Number 16 so far with another 11 (14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26) to go and if anyone has any of the missing ones they would lend me / scan for me / sell me / give me to add I'd be very grateful.

I have had a couple of PAN papersculpture books for several years but have only just realised who the artists were. The Books are "The Railway Children" which makes up into two models of steam engines and"Cromwell" which makes a 25" model of Oliver Cromwell. Both are from 1970 and both credit Lol Creme and Kevin Godley as drawing the models. I'm sure those two names strike a chord with those of us from the 60's when performing as a duo and later as members of 10cc.

Have a Pantastic 2011
    Here's hoping we all find those elusive titles but then again if we are successful what will we do then?
To all those who contacted me recently I will reply this week as I've taken it easy over the break and my New Year's resolution is to give quicker replies.

With the passing of 'The Book and Magazine Collector' because "there isn't the market for it anymore!!!!!!" I was pleased to see someone making a stand for real books. The following is an extract from the Evening News 24;

"Dozens of bookshops across the county have closed over the last decade as a result of the impact of online sales. Now a new national pressure group has been formed to do battle with the latest threat to the second-hand bookshop - the growing popularity of the e-book. Officials behind the newly formed Campaign for Real Books (Cambo) hope to do similar work for the printed word as Camra have done for real ale and the pub industry. The number of second-hand bookshops in Britain has halved over the last ten years and fears have been raised that the trend will continue if sales of electronic books outstrip sales of the printed word and schools, colleges, universities, and public libraries rely more on the new technology"

I have signed up to join. It is not that I don't enjoy technology, it gave me a job for 30 years, but do e-books bounce when falling out of a pocket scrambling up a hill, survive a ducking in the bath, still work after being run over by a car and too many more iniquities to mention - real books do.

   
More details at www.campaignforrealbooks.org

Just got this cover from the USA which may be a American edition of X461 although it is printed in the UK it does have the price of 60c printed on it.

USA          UK

It is not unknown for different versions to exist such as X718 "The Jungle Book" which has a version that states it was printed in the UK but on the back cover says Printed in Canada which must apply just to the boards. X719 is the same.

CAN          UK

Having just added scans of the 4 missing covers, thanks to Alysoun Sanders at Macmillan for the loan, I've recalculated the number of titles with a unique PAN number and make it 2391. This includes all the ones with just numbers, then prefixed with  GP, G, X, M, T, W, R, E, Z, H  and finally the Pipers. As I'm sure you know the prefix denoted the price as listed such as for Pipers they are XP = 3/6  MP = 5/0  TP = 6/0  EP = 7/6  CP = 8/0  WP = 10/6  OP = 12/0  HP = 12/6  ZP = 15/0.
I am currently adding later titles which had SBN's in a separate section. I would be grateful to hear if it would be more informative to include them on the same page as the earlier ones if they are the same title?

Bookmark from www.panbookofhorrorstories.co.uk

Enjoyable day out but as expected unsuccessful as far as the 4 elusive titles went. I did get a few later 1969/70's titles to be added to the site later. I also managed to meet up with Johnny Mains of PAN Books of Horror fame (picture left) and Neville Dear (picture right) I'm hoping we can get a list of the titles Neville painted for PAN. As you can see he did 'Fiddlefoot' and he also mentioned 'A Place Called Estherville'

Off to London, wearing the T shirt, to visit this book fair. I seem to have missed it for a few years so optimistically hoping for results for the 4 titles I still need. Observant readers may have noticed that the number has gone back up to 4 as I have found a picture of another title I don't have. I do have it as a second printing but this has a SBN number and not the PAN one. I'll add it to the catalogue when either a) I find a copy or b) give up. I'll report on the book fair on my return.

I have added another couple of sections which is work in progress but can be found under the Miscellany tab, namely 'PAN Horror Homage' with books not PAN but copying the style and 'Not quite PAN' again copy the look for different puposes.

PS No luck in Greece, in fact didn't find any second hand bookshops even in Athens but then again most of Athens city centre was closed due to protesting workers!

Off on a package tour of the ancient sites of Greece in a couple of days but NOT with Saga. Not too sure how many secondhand books shops I'll come across if any but it won't be for want of trying.

Have you seen the 'new' edition of "The Pan Book od Horror Stories" with an introduction by Johnny Mains. Mine arrived from Amazon yesterday looking as though it had been kicked around the warehouse several times but suprisingly the packing wasn't damaged!

If you've not been there be sure to visit Johnny's website at http://www.panbookofhorrorstories.co.uk/ as it is well worth a visit.