October 2022 - The Beatles Bookstore

Posted on 31/10/202231/05/2024 by liddypool — Leave a comment

A Beatles Collection

A Beatles Collection by Chris Agajanian

The Beatles Collection by Chris Agajanian

One of the primary focal points of this blog is to highlight the more rare to obscure Beatles books that are out there in the marketplace. This particular book holds a special fascination to me. A Beatles collector, named Chris Agajanian compiled many of the items in his Beatles collection as a hardback book which served as a catalogue for people that were to buy his items at auction.

I saw this book advertised on Ebay and I purchased it. Since it was privately published there are not too many copies in existence. That type of book holds a special place in my heart as a collector. I have included a couple of sample items from this gentleman’s very impressive collection. This also highlights a problem evident in bibliographies in that many privately published books are not known about and therefore miss out on being cataloged.

I have approximately 50 privately published Beatles books for example, many of which there were less than 20 copies of the book published. All of these privately published books hold a special place in the collection for obvious reasons!

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Featured Book in The Beatles Bookstore

Bill Zygmant – Where Did You Get That Shirt? (Signed Limited Edition)

Get your copy of Bill Zygmant’s portfolio book of unique photographs covering his career from the late 1960s to the 1980s.

This will be a signed, numbered edition – maximum of 250 numbered editions.

It comes with one of Bill’s signed photographs, which usually sells for £50!

£75.00

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Posted on 29/10/202231/05/2024 by liddypool — 5 Comments

Best Beatles Discography in the World but Very Rare!!!

Beatles Covered – Reference Book

Beatles reference books have a difficult legacy to live up to. The reason for this observation is as soon as a discography is published, it can become outdated instantly as new releases come out. Unless book addendums or revised editions are issued, the older book is always missing significant detail as time progresses.

One thing that can be said conclusively, though, is that this book can clearly be claimed as the best Beatles discography in the world. The title was written in the English language by German author, Joachim Noske, and published in 2009, by Ajono Books.

Only 500 copies of this massive book were issued with over 14,000 scans of LP’s singles, Ep’s. 78’s picture disks, flexi-disks, and more, featuring discographies from more than 60 countries. Upon release the 500 copies were quickly snapped up by collectors and it is out of print. Copies of the book when they come up for auction command significant high prices! The author has claimed that he does not envision he will ever reprint the book despite the ever increasing demand of collectors.

The book is over 800 pages long and features full color/colour throughout. It must have been very expensive to produce this book.

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Posted on 24/10/202231/05/2024 by liddypool — Leave a comment

Holding On To The Family, Jules!

Julian Lennon

Though not a book, nor a print item per se, this item which certainly has both Beatle connections and print-related qualities, is a very rare and difficult item to find!

First of all, the Beatles connection is that Julian of course is John Lennon’s son, and being a son of a Beatle gives one the license to post this item here.

In the 80’s, when Julian began his musical career with the excellent Valotte album, little is known that he also signed a contract with Fuji products in Japan to promote some of their products. A rare vinyl promo record was released in Japan only, containing a single track called “Fuji Girl.”

I have followed Julian’s career quite closely over the years but lacked knowledge of this release until I spotted it on an Ebay auction a couple of years ago. I was both pleased and surprised of learning of its release. This offered further evidence that there are always collecting surprises lurking around out there in Beatle-related circles.

Here are a few photos of my copy of the rare Julian Lennon promo of Fuji Girl!

I have also included a signed print of the cover of his latest LP entitled “Jude.”

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Posted on 20/10/202231/05/2024 by liddypool — 1 Comment

Derek Taylor – Genesis of an Idea

George Harrison – I Me Mine

The king of producing limited edition Beatles-related books is undoubtedly, Genesis Publications Ltd, based in the UK. Since the late Brian Roylance made the arrangements to publish George Harrison’s signed “I Me Mine” volume back in the early to mid 1970’s, the publishers have continued to publish books of intense interest to Beatles fans. At last count, more than 30 Beatles-related Genesis books have been issued.

Beautifully produced and bound in Italy, the mostly leather-bound volumes are superb in the way they are crafted, and the materials used to present them. Many Beatles fans however are skeptical and cynical about the higher prices the limited-edition books command as for many the cost is prohibitive.

The Cover from It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

Derek Taylor

Many collectors of Genesis titles may wonder what the rarest Beatles-related title is that they produced. Many people are not aware that the hardest to acquire Genesis Beatles-related title is actually a reprint of what was an already released book by the late Derek Taylor, the Beatles former publicist. His book, “It was Twenty Years Ago Today” was issued as a signed 100 copy issue by Genesis.

The publishers honored my request to allow me to purchase the last numbered copy, number 100, for my personal collection. Many people have asked me why the fascination with the last numbered copy of a limited-edition book. Here is the logic behind the reasoning. Obtaining the first numbered copy is virtually impossible to do as a result of the high demand for that numbered copy of the book. Having what turns out to be the last copy, holds an equally important fascination to me as no more limited-edition copies will ever appear or be made. That is the psychology behind requesting the last numbered copy. That coupled with the excellent writing ability of Mr. Taylor, makes this a book to be treasured.

Derek’s book, marking the 20th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper and Derek’s recollections of the essence of the counterculture of the ’60s make this a wonderful book to have!

Alternative Covers

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Posted on 17/10/202217/10/2022 by liddypool — 5 Comments

The Apple Store Photograph

Bill Zygmant – Psychedelic Photograph

It is one of the most iconic photos of swinging London and of the Beatles’ Apple empire. Taken by Bill Zygmant, he explains how he came to take this photo.

“After the photographing of the caravan, I was driving through London and I saw this building being painted. And I thought; “I recognise that design”. It was done by the same artist – “The Fool” – from Holland. So, I took the pictures, just before it was finished, and of course it was whitewashed a few days later because they didn’t have planning permission. There are no other good pictures of it, because it wasn’t up for that long.”

Located on the corner of Baker Street and Paddington Street, Marylebone, The Beatles’ Apple Boutique was
opened on 7th December 1967 to a great fanfare. However, it was chaotic, as was most of the Apple ventures. It closed on 31st July 1968, with The Beatles announcing a free-for-all.

The iconic design was from a collective known as “The Fool”. They consisted of Dutch designers Simon Posthuma and Mrijke Koeger, together with artist Josje Leeger. These three had met Simon Hayes and Barry Finch on a trip to London, and decided to work together under the name, “The Fool”. The introduction to The Beatles came through George’s wife Patti.

Get Bill’s incredible book of photographs of the Beatles and many more iconic musicians and celebrities, together with their stories from Bill’s incredible life.

It is a Limited Edition book of only 250 copies with a signed photograph of John and Yoko worth £50!

Bill Zygmant – Where Did You Get That Shirt? (Signed Limited Edition)

Get your copy of Bill Zygmant’s portfolio book of unique photographs covering his career from the late 1960s to the 1980s.

This will be a signed, numbered edition – maximum of 250 numbered editions.

It comes with one of Bill’s signed photographs, which usually sells for £50!

£75.00

Shop now

Posted on 16/10/202231/05/2024 by liddypool — 1 Comment

Jackie Lomax

This is technically not a print product like a book or a magazine but it can hold tangential interest to Beatles fans on a number of fronts just the same.

This recording was released in 2014 on the Angel Hair label. It had previously been unreleased though it did appear previously on a bootleg recording. The recording was made back in 1970 while Apple Records was beginning to go through its disintegration. Despite being the first artist to sign with Apple Records, Jackie Lomax became aware, as Allen Klein came into the picture, that perhaps Apple was no longer the nirvana that people had envisioned.

Contributing Musicians

Not officially released during his lifetime, Jackie’s family was able to finally negotiate a posthumous release of the LP on cd. Of additional interest to Beatles fans, Pete Ham and Tom Evans, Apple artists from the group Badfinger, sing backing harmonies on track 8 and Bobby Keys and Jim Price, horn players who have backed John, George and Ringo also played on this LP.

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