Although the 2nd title in the series of Bond books, Live and Let Die was published after Moonraker so is the 3rd title published by Pan in paperback.
There are 2 variants of the 1st edition. The standard edition is about 15mm thick and like most of the Pan paperbacks the paper darkens with age. The “thick paper” edition is about 18mm thick and has better quality paper that tends to stay white. The thick paper version lacks the 1st blank page of the thin version so starts with “Praise for Live and Let Die”. This may have been done to try and keep the width down a bit, as the card covers are identical between the editions part of the front cover artwork can often be found on the spine. As with all Pan editions the card covers are oversized and the whole book trimmed to size explaining how its possible to have books of differing thickness in the same covers. The thick paper editions are rarer so more in demand (and hence more expensive). A similar issue exists with the 16th Pan edition of For Your Eyes Only.
Editions and pricing variants found in our collections
1st printing 1957 standard edition. Pan GP83 to spine. Copies found with:
1st printing 1957 thick paper edition. Pan GP83 to spine. Copies found with:
2nd printing 1958. Pan GP83 to spine. Copies found with:
3rd printing 1959. Pan GP83 to spine. Copies found with:
4th printing 1960. Pan GP83 to spine. Copies found with 2’6 printed to front cover, unpriced.and 2’6 applied to front by yellow label
5th printing 1961. Pan GP83 to spine. All copies found have 2’6 price printed to the front