A FORM OF OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE COLLECTING BEATLES MAGAZINES
Some enterprising magazine publications like UNCUT Magazine in the UK have undertaken a cross-marketing campaign in transforming a magazine title about the Beatles into a hardcover book. To those who prefer to purchase hardcover books of the Beatles, this campaign helps to satisfy that particular collecting impulse.
A friend of mine from the UK, Seamus Hayes informed me of another marketing strategy for Beatles-related magazines. This is a issue of ‘The Ultimate Music Guide of the Beatles:The Complete Story of the Beatles” issued by UNCUT magazine in the UK. It is in the magazine format with a picture on the cover taken from the Beatles Mad Day Out photography session from 1968. The magazine with the Mad Day Out cover photograph was issued in 2024 but there are earlier versions of that magazine issued with a different cover.
The magazine which is large at 172 pages with many beautiful photos is impressive. This is followed by a recent unique strategy aimed directly at Beatles collectors. Uncut magazine decided to take their Ultimate Music Guide of the Beatles and print 2 hardcover editions of most of the content that appears in the Mad Day Out cover magazine, one with a red background and one with a blue background featuring two different early Beatles photographs. My psychological justification for getting all three was now complete as being in hardback format, I was now securing two more hardcover Beatles books for my collection. I am quite aware that to many if not most people, that is not the best choice both in a practical and financial manner. Living in the States, I was cursing at the international postage costs situation but Seamus Hayes, my collecting buddy in the UK has helped me significantly in helping me deal with this situation. As fellow collectors we help each other out in our collecting obsession! Cross-referencing the book and magazine formats, especially if one format adds additional material or articles not previously available in the other formats, makes it more appealing to own both. This is especially important if you fall under the completist collector mentality!
Uncut Magazine is simultaneously published 2 hardcover editions of the magazine with a different cover from their early years. It is quite the formula as the magazine contains updated Beatle information that may be missing from the book, yet the hardcover book format offers durability and probably a much longer shelf lifespan.
I am glad I came across this with the assistance of Seamus Hayes as I love unusual editions of Beatles print material and being in hardcover format it is like acquiring another Beatles book instead of a magazine. It is more durable, less fragile, and longer lasting. I must admit I prefer the 1968 Magazine photo much better than the earlier Beatles edition of the magazine and the covers of the hardcover books!
A CRITIQUE:
For collectors the trouble with purchasing ANY version of something called The Beatles Complete Story is that term is never truly 100% accurate as there are always new events that continue to come to the foreground that add to the story. Maybe it would be more accurate to call it “The Nearly Complete Story” or “The Far From Complete Story,” if you are a cynic. However, if you suffer from so-called malady of being a completist collector, you fall prey to getting them all ensuring you will be getting all the information you may be missing in the other editions. This is good for the magazines business but the pocketbook suffers as a result!
This is my copy of the 2024 Magazine Issue cover:
2017 Issue of the Complete Story: An earlier edition of the magazine
The link originally sent to me by Seamus Hayes regarding the red cover of the hardback edition of the Complete Story:
The Beatles – Ultimate Music Guide Hardback Book | Kelsey Media
This is my copy of the red hardback:
Back cover of the book:
The credits listed in the book:
THE BLUE HARDCOVER VERSION OF THE MAGAZINE:
Ultimate Music Guide: The Beatles – Limited Edition Hardback Book | Kelsey Media
This is the marketing appeal used to describe the 400 copy blue covered hardback edition of the magazine:
“Presenting The Ultimate Music Guide to The Beatles in a limited-edition hardback book! With a print run of just 400 copies, each book will have a limited-edition numbered icon on the endpaper.
Every album reviewed in depth, including the latest remixes/remasters
Classic archive interviews
8-page foldout Miscellany timeline
Get Back: reviewed
Store-exclusive hardback edition, with only 400 published, each edition indvidually numbered.“
My copy of the blue hardback:
The back cover of the blue hardback:
It appears that I have copy #150 of the 400 copy blue covered hardback:
In conclusion, if you consider yourself a completist collector, what are the collectibles that you treasure the most where you may feel the impulse to acquire “all” of the information that is available to you about the subject.
For those who do not fall under that collecting category, what are the psychological restraints that you put on yourself on collecting that are outside of the financial arguments!
What items do you feel compelled to buy and WHY?
I would say I’m a “semi-completist” collector, leaning more to being a completist when it comes to Paul’s work (I have all his remastered archive album sets and the Egypt Station suitcase) I’m pretty sure I have both the Uncut magazines above, but definitely not the hardbacks. Being a fan since early 1964, I have the Beatles’ American albums in mono & stereo vinyl, CD (U.K. 1987/1988 & 2009 and American 2014 versions) I’ve been a subscriber of Beatlefan magazine since the fall of 1980 and that has given me good ideas on what to buy. I have a good majority of the well-known Beatles-related books (over 150) If it gets a good review and looks interesting, I’m compelled to buy it! (I should have bought stock in Amazon when all they sold were books!)
Thanks for the detailed reply, NJ! I am compiling the many reasons and rationales collectors use to help justify their purchases. More importantly I am also looking for the psychological reasons many collectors like to collect it “all.” Is it to elevate their sense of self- esteem by knowing they may possess something that few other fans may own, for example. The psychological study of collecting presents a fascinating subject of study for me and indeed, that will be the focus of my own Beatles book! It will detail the decision-making mechanisms that prompted me to buy some items for my collection, yet ignored others!
I used to collect specialized Beatles magazines as they came out, but the prices have gotten so high I have gone Cold Turkey on collecting newer ones.
Yes, Michael, and those high prices may lead to the eventual END of the physical media that we love so much!