Many Beatles collectors are aware of the work of Doug Sulpy who over the years with his magazine entitled The 910 (yes, a pun of the One after 909) has helped to do a wonderful job of attempting to catalog and criticize the tremendous amount of unreleased material by the Beatles. Doug has numerous book titles dealing with this subject and here are a few of them:
THE 910’S GUIDE TO THE BEATLES’ OUTTAKES: Doug Sulpy: Amazon.com: Books
The Complete Beatles’ Audio Guide: Doug Sulpy: 9780964386976: Amazon.com: Books
This title below deals with the existing video of the Beatles from 1964. Doug issued this as a hardback in an edition of only 100 copies of which I purchased a copy. Doug’s 910 magazine is now sold digitally only, in pdf format. This transition to the digital format is primarily due to high printing costs. However, Doug does continue to print the occasional limited edition hardback volume like the one below which is always exhaustively researched and well-documented.
The back cover of the 100-copy hardback:
Doug’s “John Hancock” on this special hardcover title of only 100 copies:
Thomas The Tank
Ringo did a series of audio narrations of the Thomas the Tank children’s books. Expanding on his role as the conductor in the Thomas the Tank TV series, this is an example of one of the cassettes with book volumes based on the series. For collecting purposes I bought the complete Ringo cassette and CD collections of his storytelling ventures!
I love special releases like this that appeal to both children and adults. The book detailing the lyrics to Starr’s song appeals more to the children. The alternate version of Octopus’s Garden on the CD appeals to the Ringo music collector, primarily being adults.
A picture of the cd contained within the book and a brief bio on the author and the illustrator:
The back cover of my copy of the book which is available on Amazon:
Amazon.com: Octopus’s Garden: 9781481403627: Starr, Ringo, Cort, Ben: Books
Flashback
Though this is a photography book containing other artists beside the Beatles, we can surmise why they were chosen for the cover. This wonderful photography book by noted photographer, John Rowland is signed by Mr. Rowland, and I acquired this signed copy from the book search service known as Abe Books.
The book was published in 2010 by Desert Springs Publishing. For further info contact: www.rockphotobook.com
The signature page of the Rowlands book:
The back cover of the book:
The Beatles Monopoly
Technically, this is not a Beatles print item, yet it does exhibit the overlap in collecting interests that I have for both Beatles print material and Beatles board games. Here is the special Yellow Submarine edition of Monopoly
The back cover of the Yellow Submarine edition:
An edition of the Monopoly board game that I bought that has the classic Abbey Road album cover:
The back cover of the edition shown above:
Another one of the world’s most popular board games and it is only fitting that there would also be a Beatles edition of SCRABBLE: I bought my copy either from eBay or The Fest for Beatles Fans:
The back cover of the Scrabble game:
Skywriting by Word of Mouth
A special limited edition of 500 copies only in a slipcase of John Lennon’s final self-penned book entitled “Skywriting By Word of Mouth.” Each copy was signed by Yoko Ono. Published by Harper & Row in 1986!
The cover of the book within the slipcase:
Yoko’s signature and the number of the edition:
In 2014 Tosh Berman, son of Wallace Berman, one of the individuals who appears on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, released this limited edition booklet of only 300 signed copies that details the story of his dad giving permission to Brian Epstein to use his photo on the cover of the LP and of Wallace Berman’s son’s interest in the Beatles. It is a small item of not many pages, but it is wonderful to read the special set of stories contained within!
Published in 2014 by the Synaesthesia Press!
Wallace Berman and Sgt. Pepper – The World of Tosh Berman
The image of Mr. Berman contained on the Sgt. Pepper cover and the one that is within my copy of the Tosh Berman book which I love as a special collectable: Copies can often be found on both Ebay and Abe books!
Tosh Berman’s signature in my copy of the limited edition book:
Wallace Berman’s brief bio on Wikipedia: Wallace Berman – Wikipedia
Found this book in a Fest for Beatles catalog! It is a 3-volume set that features a special part dedicated not only in about 108 photos of the Beatles rarely if ever seen before, but details of the Beatles interactions over the years with members of the Hare Krishna movement. Here is an introduction of the book “Chasing Rhinos With the Swami”:
My copy was purchased through the Fest For Beatles Fans. I have seen copies advertised additionally on Ebay and Abe Books. The first volume was published in 2016. Volume 3 came out in 2021. This was followed by the 3 volumes set encased in a slipcase which was also being offered at The Fest for Beatles Fans!
Chasing Rhinos With The Swami – Book
A fabulous hardback Ringo Starr discography by author, Andrew James. It is detailed and all encompassing and it is a wonderful pickup for Beatles collectors. However, discographies all suffer from the same built-in problem. Unless the recording artist has passed away, in most cases the discogrpahy will not be up-to-date or current because the minute the artist issues another recording the book becomes lacking of the new releases. The completeness of their recorded legacy depends upon constantly updated versions of the book. It is frustrating to those who want a sense of completeness in their collections. However, we of course would much prefer the artist to be active healthy and with us for the natural course of their lives and to keep recording additional memories for us to savor.
My comments above may seem somewhat silly but the intention and purpose of the comments was simply to highlight a problem inherent in writing any books about artists that continue to record and remain active until they are elderly! Everyone’s primary concern should naturally be the well-being of the artist in question!
The well-researched discography was released in 2023 and I purchased it Online on Amazon. The book was independently published:
The back cover of the Andrew James book about Ringo’s recording career:
What do you think? What do Want to See?
In conclusion, is there a particular Beatles print/ related subject matter that you would like to see covered in greater detail on the blog? Please let us know what you would like to see more of, or less of, for that matter!
Thanks! Be healthy and be happy!
Buzz
Some great books about The Beatles at the Beatles Bookstore
The Beatles and Music
The music of The Beatles
Do you collect old magazines too? I’d be interested in seeing some of your treasures.
Yes, Tracy! All of this will come in time!!!