- Pan was set up to publish paperbacks, and most of its list is paperback reissues of books first published in hardback by other firms. Ian Fleming's Bond novels, for example, all first reached British paperback through Pan after hardback publication elsewhere, so a Pan Bond is a first paperback, not the first edition of the novel.
- The first Pan printing of Casino Royale (1955) is priced 2/- on the front cover.
- For some 1960s Bond titles Pan's first printing was an export issue for overseas markets, which came before the British issue. A You Only Live Twice marked "Not for sale in the UK" on the back cover is one of these.
- Some Pan books are originals. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy first appeared as a Pan paperback in October 1979, a few months before the Arthur Barker hardback, so for titles like this the first Pan printing is the first edition.
Publisher · founded 1944 · London
Pan Books
Pan Books is the British paperback house Alan Bott registered in 1944, now part of Pan Macmillan, whose Pans are mostly first paperbacks of other firms' hardbacks but include true firsts such as The Hitchhiker's Guide.
- Editions tracked
- 318
- First editions
- 57
- Books
- 316
- Years
- 1925 to 2021
Pan Books is a publisher based in London, founded in 1944. We track 318 editions it published between 1925 and 2021, 57 of them first editions across 316 books. How Pan Books marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Pan Books
Pan Books is a British paperback publisher that Alan Bott, a First World War flying ace and owner of the Book Society, registered as a limited company on 1 September 1944. It publishes popular fiction and non-fiction in paperback and is now an imprint of Pan Macmillan, part of Holtzbrinck.
Pan's first full list, twelve titles, came out in June 1947, headed by Rudyard Kipling's Ten Stories. Paper was scarce after the war, so the earliest books were printed in France and shipped to England. The logo of the god Pan playing his pipes was designed by Mervyn Peake and later redrawn by Edward Young.
A few years after its founding Pan was bought by a group of hardback houses, among them Macmillan, Collins, Heinemann and, briefly, Hodder & Stoughton. Macmillan became sole owner in 1987, and in 1990 Pan merged with Macmillan's trade division to form Pan Macmillan.
Pan's 1950s and 1960s books are collected for their bold illustrated covers, by artists such as Sam Peffer, Roger Hall and Rex Archer. It was the first British paperback publisher of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and also carried Leslie Charteris's Saint books, Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer and many others. Golden Pans, introduced in 1962, mark titles that sold a million copies in Pan paperback; Fleming received seven. Pan also published some originals, most famously Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, first published in London on 12 October 1979.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Pan Books's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Pan Books first editions
Authors
Books
Published by Pan Books
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a Pan Books first edition?
- Pan was set up to publish paperbacks, and most of its list is paperback reissues of books first published in hardback by other firms. Ian Fleming's Bond novels, for example, all first reached British paperback through Pan after hardback publication elsewhere, so a Pan Bond is a first paperback, not the first edition of the novel. - The first Pan printing of Casino Royale (1955) is priced 2/- on
How many Pan Books books does MyVolumes track?
We track 318 editions published by Pan Books, 57 of them first editions, across 316 books.
Where these facts come from
- Celebrating 70 years of Pan paperbacks, Pan Macmillan, 2017 (trade.panmacmillan.com)
- Pan Books, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- James Bond paperbacks: first editions, 007 Magazine (007magazine.co.uk)
- James Bond paperbacks fact file, 007 Magazine (007magazine.co.uk)
- Ian Fleming, James Bond Pan paperbacks, Sotheby's (sothebys.com)
- Douglas Adams, The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, True First Edition 1979, John Atkinson Books (johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk)
- The Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy, First Edition (1979), Rare Books Ireland (rarebooks.ie)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel), Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 3 November 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.