Pan Bond / Fleming books wanted to complete collection
alantong
Posts: 41MI6 Agent
Hi,
I started collecting the PAN Bond / Fleming paperbacks some time ago and reasons I seem to have forgotten I decided to try and collect one copy of every edition published. Given there are 14 books in the series and up to 33 editions for each its quite a task (did I mention I have forgotten why I decided to do this ?:) ).
If anyone has any of the below editions they would consider selling or trading please do let me know
Casino Royale 4th, 5th, 14th, 26th, 27th, 28th
Moonraker 23rd,28th
Live And Let Die 14th, 26th
Diamonds Are Forever 2nd, 15th, 22nd
From Russia With Love 4th, 18th, 24th
Dr No 8th, 10th, 13th
Goldfinger 24th
FYEO Complete!
Thunderball Complete!
TSWLM 5th
OHMSS Complete!
YOLT Complete!
TMWTGG 12th
I am also missing the first edition of You Only Live Twice with the promotional wrap around dust jacket (it looks like the movie tie in cover).
Thanks in advance
Alan
I started collecting the PAN Bond / Fleming paperbacks some time ago and reasons I seem to have forgotten I decided to try and collect one copy of every edition published. Given there are 14 books in the series and up to 33 editions for each its quite a task (did I mention I have forgotten why I decided to do this ?:) ).
If anyone has any of the below editions they would consider selling or trading please do let me know
Casino Royale 4th, 5th, 14th, 26th, 27th, 28th
Moonraker 23rd,28th
Live And Let Die 14th, 26th
Diamonds Are Forever 2nd, 15th, 22nd
From Russia With Love 4th, 18th, 24th
Dr No 8th, 10th, 13th
Goldfinger 24th
FYEO Complete!
Thunderball Complete!
TSWLM 5th
OHMSS Complete!
YOLT Complete!
TMWTGG 12th
I am also missing the first edition of You Only Live Twice with the promotional wrap around dust jacket (it looks like the movie tie in cover).
Thanks in advance
Alan
Comments
Casino Royale 4th, 5th, 14th, 26th, 27th
Moonraker 23rd,28th
Live And Let Die 26th
Diamonds Are Forever 2nd, 15th, 22nd
From Russia With Love 18th, 24th
Dr No 8th, 10th
Goldfinger 24th
TSWLM 5th
TMWTGG 12th
This sounds like a great collection. Good luck with completing it.
I also collect Pan James Bond books and although I have thought about collecting one of each printing, I'm still a long way off.
Two reasons why I am a little reluctant to do this was because firstly, there are some printings with two different cover designs. From memory the 2nd printing of You Only Live Twice was realeased with a 'Hawkey' cover as well as a film tie-in cover. Secondly, a lot of the covers have minor variations - with or without a printed price or with a price sticker etc.
I envisioned that I would have three or four copies of each printing in all cover variations and wouldn't know where to stop!
Would it be possible to post a list of the number of printings for each book? Maybe then I can check through to see how far I have to go.
(I'll also have a look through my collection to see if I have any of your missing ones).
You can view my Pan books collection here.
Good to hear there is at least one other collector out there!
I guess the first target for most is to collect one of each cover (several different "painted" designs for the early books, Hawkey designs, Model or white, Still life and Movie Tie In covers). http://www.pizgloria.com/ has a pretty good photos of each series.
Beyond that its to try & collect one of every edition and for the real OCD types like me it becomes addictive as there are then many subtle variants like as you mention different prices.
You are right that the same edition can appear in different series, mostly as they swapped from one series to another they either used up old covers or old sets of pages. Sometimes however I come across a really out of sequence book.
I dont think its right for me to list all the details of all the editions here as the definitive guide is the excellent Ian Fleming Bibliography by Jon Gilbert - really a must if you collect either the Pan paperbacks or Cape hardbacks. I heard last week that there are only a handful of the first editions left so if you have been considering the book move quickly. Actually what I will do is just put brief details of just Casino Royale and then ask Jon if its OK to put the rest here.
Casino Royale Pan series & editions
Painted 1st -12th
Hawkey 13th-24th
Movie 22nd-27th
Model (white) 28th
Still life 29th-33rd
Is that the sort of information you are after?
Regards
Alan
Casino Royale 5th, 11th, 14th, 26th, 27th
Moonraker 28th
Live And Let Die 26th
Dr No 10th
Goldfinger 24th
The Spy Who Loved Me 5th
I am also searching for the 1st Pan edition of You Only Live Twice (1965) with the promotional wrap around dust jacket which looks like the move tie in edition.
If anyone has any of these please do get in touch - interested in buying or trading. Similarly if you are trying to put a collection together and are missing some editions (other than the ones above) let me know and I might be able to help.
I've just realised that I'm watching a couple of your items on eBay (assuming there aren't two Pan collecting Alan Tongs in the world)!
Thanks for the information. The Piz Gloria site is great. I've never seen that site before and it's only the second time I've ever seen a picture of the YOLT wrap around cover. The first being on www.tikit.net.
It's great to know that however obsessive you think you are, there's always someone more so.
I did have a look online for the Ian Fleming Bibliography, and it looks like a great book. Does it contain colour photos of the covers? I'm not sure I can justify that amount of cash though.
I guess I was hoping for some more basic information, just the total number of printings for each book (eg. Casino Royale = 33).
I've checked through my book list, and unfortunately I don't have any of the editions you are still looking for.
One last question. What are you going to do once you've completed the collection?
You can view my Pan books collection here.
Hope you got lucky on the auction!
As for the bibliography yes it has colour photos of all the hardbacks, paperbacks, advanced proofs etc etc. There is a good thread on it here http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/39414/ian-fleming-bibliography-by-jon-gilbert/
I will send you a PM with a few more details on editions etc.
"One last question. What are you going to do once you've completed the collection?"
I am getting close to having one copy of every edition which will be a major milestone but I don't think you can ever really complete such a collection. There are different variations of prices (60C canada versions etc) and at the moment some copies I have are a bit tatty so could be upgraded. I guess I will worry about it when it happens!
Regards
Alan
Casino Royale 5th, 11th, (painted covers) 14th, (hawkey cover) 32nd (still life cover)
Live and Let Die 26th (movie cover)
OHMSS 6th (Still life cover)
You Only Live Twice 3rd (Still life cover)
If you have any of these Pan titles could I ask you to check if you have any of the above editions?
Even if you are not interested in selling / trading it would be really helpful to know they actually exist. I am fairly sure at least one of the above does not exist due to a mistake Pan made in the numbering.
Thanks
Alan
Agreed there - most of them by an artist called Peff if I recall correctly. -{
The Peff covers are also my favourites and I am lucky enough to have some signed copies - sadly he died earlier this year
http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/biography_sam_peffer.php3
They are indeed works of art - back when images couldn't just be photoshopped !
I realise this post is a year old, but wondered if it is still active. We too have been collecting the pans and also have a wish list. Alan we only have the 'snow' cover for 6th OHMSS - was there a still life too? Have you managed to complete your collection yet?
Hope this helps!
I have started putting a guide together of the different printings / variants with help from a few other collectors. So far only the "painted" covers and "Hawkey" ones are done http://www.collecting-fleming.com/photos/C621
If you have any of the books pictured please click on the relevant "more info/more photos" link and check if your copy fits in with the description. New variants are still being found all the time.
Alan: I stumbled across www.collecting-fleming.com a while ago, but didn't realise it was yours. It looks great and I'll have to take a closer look. I'm currently checking through my collection to weed out any duplicates, checking for price variations as I go. I'll see if I can cross check your site and let you know if I find anything new. I remember you emailed me a while ago, but I'd gone 'off the radar' for a bit. Are you still looking for any editions to complete your collection? You can find a link to my collection in the signature below.
You can view my Pan books collection here.
Hi Rob,
Just trying to finish adding the last few "still life"pan editions then I think every edition / cover art will be on the site. If you come across any thing I dont have on the site (eg a different price etc) then let me know. Similarly if you are missing any editions that are listed on the site let me know and I can check my collection for spares.
Regards
Alan
Alantong; I've just been viewing your website with some interest. I never realised how many variants there were. I have quite a few. I'm more interested in the artwork than the little things like the Pan logo changing, although i have got, for instance, copies with both yellow or red / green strips.
I'm writing this from memory as my books are all in storage, but I thought there was a print of DAF where the yellow band sits completely at the bottom of the cover, not a small indent up.
Also in your main paperback gallery I'm certain you are missing the still life image for Moonraker - surely an oversight on your part?
Hi, Thanks for this. If you find a different DAF let me know. Pan printed books with oversized pages /covers then they were cut to size. Its not uncommon for books to be cut off center by about 1cm so different copies of the same book can look different.
Moonraker - its in the still life section here http://www.collecting-fleming.com/photos/C3761 It is / was AWOL in the All Pan books gallery. Thanks for spotting that.
From memory I recall that the OHMSS paperback release with the George Lazenby cover was actually rebound because on the page that lists the other titles in the series it says "Eon have now released the fourth James Bond film Thunderball" or something like that, - I wonder if anyone who has a copy can confirm this or is it part of my imagination?
All copies of the OHMSS are bound with sets of pages that are much older than the film - see
http://www.collecting-fleming.com/photos/more-info/on-her-majestys-secret-service-pan-movie-330-10350-4
I dont really know why this was?
Will check my copies when I get a chance to see if they mention Thunderball but why would that be an issue - Thunderball was the 4th film and OHMSS the 6th.
It would appear that when TB was released there was a major printing of all Bond books to enable maximum sales to be obtained as this was the biggest Bond movie of all at that time. I presume that Pan had such a lot of copies left in stock of OHMSS in 1969 that it was decided not to go to the expense of reprinting the entire book but to rebind stock copies with the new artwork.
I only started trading in 1973 but movie covers of the Bond books were always sought after.