PAN Book Talk Celebrating 25+ Years of PAN Books

A Visit To the Astley Book Farm

TiKiT — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:06:55 +0000

I hadn't visited the Astley Book Farm near Bedworth for quite a while so being in the area we called in. Not many PANs but several PICCOLO titles bought but what I was most intrigued by was the toilets! Now that is not something I would say everyday but how often do you find the walls covered in PAN Book covers (althought I did spot a couple of BELMONTs sneaked in at the bottom corner)

My web hosting company informs me that it will no longer be supporting Blogware (which this blog uses) and will be moving it over to MS WordPress so hopefully it may work a little better which will not be difficult. This is due to happen towards the end of the month so watch this space.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

TiKiT — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:36:00 +0000

Hope you find all those titles you've been looking for - as long as they are not the three I want!

End Of Year Update

TiKiT — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:46:08 +0000

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!

Current Activities

TiKiT — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:41:02 +0000

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!

September Updates

TiKiT — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:17:05 +0100

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.

Update

TiKiT — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:05:47 +0100

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.

Sam 'PEFF' Peffer Artwork

TiKiT — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:58:58 +0100

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?

Hardback Editions

TiKiT — Wed, 18 May 2011 11:11:59 +0100

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?

Codes and Prices

TiKiT — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 10:13:45 +0100

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!

Recycling?

TiKiT — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:59:11 +0000

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.

The PAN Record

TiKiT — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 08:36:35 +0000

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.

Current Activities

TiKiT — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:38:32 +0000

Off to Liverpool on a book hunt for a couple of days to get away from painting. As my wife will not let me paint around the books on the shelves I've taking the opportunity, whilst taking them off, to note the cover artist. I am slowly adding these details to the pages with about a tenth done so far. I am also adding all the cross links to the same title but with different numbers. I've noticed a few error with the tagging which can mess up the search so I'm putting them right as I go along. These task will probably be my focus for the next six months and then back to adding the newer titles.

Papersculpture

TiKiT — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 15:14:44 +0000

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.

Happy New Year 2011

TiKiT — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 10:21:16 +0000

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.

Royalties for Casino Royal

TiKiT — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:40:02 +0000

I've come across a book dealer selling a page of accounts regarding royalties received by Ian Fleming for sales of the PAN edition of Casino Royale and it makes for very interesting reading. Up to Sept. 20th 1955 it had sold 22,594 copies in the UK with royalties of 1.2/3d per copy and 11,056 overseas at 1d a copy. There is a deduction of £150 for a cash advance paid 18th April 1955, then Jonathan Cape takes 50% and so Fleming actually ends up with £26 9s 9p! I've asked the seller if I can include a copy on my website as he wants £900 for it, which is a little bit to much to ask off Santa, but not heard any more up to now although I am quite happy to give his shop a good plug.

CAMBO

TiKiT — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:29:33 +0000

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

Different Cover

TiKiT — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 14:01:48 +0000

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

Is it 2391?

TiKiT — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:22:57 +0000

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

Paperback Book Fair London

TiKiT — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:10:11 +0000

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'

21st UK Paperback and Pulp Bookfair

TiKiT — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:20:35 +0100

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 for a couple of weeks

TiKiT — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 14:19:15 +0100

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.

Is it 4 to go or just 3?

TiKiT — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:48:21 +0100

Having been in contact with PAN, doing some digging of my own in the British Library and using Whitaker's Paperbacks In Print for 1966 we have come to the conclusion that although M160 'Childbirth Without Fear' may have been listed it was never actually published.

It was sad to see the death of Raymond Hawkey a couple of weeks ago, one of the few PAN book cover designers to be acknowledge as on X201 the 1963 edition of Thunderball. What an iconic series that was.

Now only 4 titles to go!

TiKiT — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:58:43 +0100

I have managed to track down a copy of M186 'The Final Diagnosis' by Arthur Hailey and added it to site, now to find those other 4 elusive titles.

PAN Romance and Wants

TiKiT — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:34:42 +0100

Just adding to the PAN Romance Series with some of the later titles.

A quick reminder of the five known titles still needed to complete the collection; PAN G704 The Pan Junior Crossword Book Burgess Robin, PAN X705 The Third Pan Junior Crossword Book Burgess Robin, PAN M160 Childbirth Without Fear Dick-Read Grantly, PAN M186 The Final Diagnosis Hailey Arthur, PAN E13 The Boston Strangler Frank Gerald

Another week up the 'cut'

TiKiT — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 11:04:21 +0100

Have not added much to the site owing to being unexpectedly called out to crew again due to illness on the boat leaving the skipper single handed. Boat is now back at base so that will probably be it for the year enabling me to get down to the serious business of getting the website tidied up and adding later titles.

ALL FINISHED - apart from the stubborn 5!

TiKiT — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:08:06 +0100

Finally the website now shows at least one example of all the know titles apart from these five PAN G704 The Pan Junior Crossword Book Burgess Robin, PAN X705 The Third Pan Junior Crossword Book Burgess Robin, PAN M160 Childbirth Without Fear Dick-Read Grantly, PAN M186 The Final Diagnosis Hailey Arthur, PAN E13 The Boston Strangler Frank Gerald. Now to sort out the errors, add backcovers, add the cross links, update authors list, add cover artists, more on series, add later titles etc. But as the example below of the 1971 title by Sandy Hutson shows I think the standard of artwork on the covers certainly went down hill in later years.

The PAN logo gets everywhere!

TiKiT — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:49:24 +0100

The pictures show scans of a postcard from a sandwich shop in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Unfortunately, when I went to see it, it had disappeared. I am going to add a "Not quite PAN section" shortly as I have several other bits and pieces that could fall into that catergory. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have anything to add to this.

Thanks to Adrian for the photo. Be sure to visit his fantastic site for all things Peter Cheyney related - www.petercheyney.co.uk

Sorry for the delay.

TiKiT — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:49:30 +0100

To everyone who sent me an email over the last few days can I say 'Sorry' for the delay in replying but we got an unexpected call to go 'crewing on the cut' As this is something my wife and I really enjoy, in fact more than actually travelling on the boat, we couldn't say no. We will be repeating this when we will be crewing again on the return journey with another 100+ locks to do. Now to get back to the serious business of scanning the last few titles.

Anonymous comments now accepted

TiKiT — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:04:48 +0100

Due to problems with setting up user names and passwords anonymous comments will now be allowed but starting a new entry will not be available unless you have logged in.
On the last leg of scanning in covers with 15 titles up to M201 just done and which will be added very shortly. Some more of the Heyer covers added as well.

Still Scanning Covers

TiKiT — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:41:35 +0100

Still at it, now up to M180 but going off at a tangent to add some more Georgette Heyer. I have also aded "Come Die With Me" to the Rivals of James Bond where the 25 year rule doesn't apply but then again I make up my own rules as I go along!