Mad Day Out
Excellent limited edition books about that famous Mad Day Out photo session taken around the time of the Beatles recording the “White Album.”
The Beatles were photographed in July of 1968 in several locations around London. The photographers taking photos of them that day were: Don McCullin, Ronald Fitzgibbon, Stephen Goldblatt, Tom Murray, Tony Bramwell, and Mal Evans.
Here are a few of the limited edition books about that famous photo shoot.
This book is by photographer and cinematographer, Stephen Goldblatt.
Edition One Books published this work for the non-profit organization Fotovison around 2010. Only issued in an edition of 250 copies, it is the most difficult Beatles Mad Day Out photo book to acquire. Two people who were instrumental in seeing this book become a reality were Beatles expert Norman Maslov and book designer, Michael Rylander. The images in this book are exclusively black and white!
Paul McCartney originally commissioned war photographer Don McCullin to take photos of the Beatles for promotional purposes around the impending release of the “White Album.” The slip-cased signed version of this book containing both color/ colour and black and white photos is very rare, as Don McCullin had emergency surgery while he was beginning the signing of this special edition so very few of the signed slip-cased version of the book has made it to the marketplace. Here are a few photos of the McCullin book:
Published by Jonathan Cape, 2010
Tom Murray
Tom Murray’s book was published by Archivum publishers in 2018 to mark the 50th anniversary of the photoshoot.
Tom Murray was asked by photographer Don McCullin if he was interested in taking photos of a band he was shooting that day in 1968. Only Don McCullin did not notify Tom Murray of the band he was shooting that day. Tom agreed to go with Don that day. With the limited information that Don provided to Tom, he only took one roll of colour/color film with him to shoot that day. Needless to say, he was shocked and startled to see the band that McCullin was scheduled to photograph. Tom’s film was fortunately in color and he was able to take what many consider to be the best color photographs of the Beatles taken that day. Tom is a very friendly and gracious personality and has taken many fabulous photos throughout his illustrious career.
The Beatles: The Summer of 1968
Earlier than the above-mentioned limited edition books, I was able to acquire a limited paperback version of Tom’s photos entitled: “The Beatles The Summer of 1968” through the UK company Tracks.
All of these books are highly sought after as they represent what possibly may be the best Beatles photoshoot of their career.
Is this your favourite Beatles photo shoot? Or do you have another?
Buzz
Another Beatles Photograph Book
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!
I have all these books.
I was lucky to have them signed in person except the one by Stephen Goldblatt, but I had him on the phone when he was still living in Berkeley (he now lives in Mexico); he was at the time working on the James Brown movie. He was very friendly talking about his garden and other things….I was fortunate because all books had been sold but Melanie Light got in touch with Stephan who had a few remaining copies in stock. That’s how I finally own N°115/250 plus a thanking card signed by Stephen. Wherever he is I wish him well, his book is absolutely fantastic, I treasure it plus the souvenir of talking to him. I met Don Mc Cullin at photo london; I already had a deluxe copy of his book but he signed the extra photograph in the box which is John wearing a kind of motorbike goggles and helmet. It is now framed and on my wall of frames.
Thank you for the comments Roland. Though most people like to have earlier copies of a limited edition, I have the interest in limited edition books to purchase the very last copy as in most cases, no more copies are going to be produced. So in the case of the Goldblatt book, I was able to purchase the last numbered copy #250. With the Henry Grossman “Kaleidoscope Eyes” book, I managed to get copy #1967 of the issue of 1967 copies. That is one of my collecting obsessions of limited edition books on the Beatles. So happy to hear of your phone conversation with Mr. Goldblatt. He is an excellent cinematographer.