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| #1 - 1963 |
The Beatles Book, The Beatles Monthly Book or The Beatles Book Monthly, this was the magazine Beatles fans subscribed to in the sixties. Starting in August 1963 with the full blessing of The Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein, 77 of these magazines were issued - one every month - all through the sixties, featuring exclusive photos of the Beatles in the recording studios or elsewhere, and the articles in the book were written by insiders like Tony Barrow and Mal Evans.
With each new issue, Beatle fans worldwide would voraciously devour the contents from cover-to-cover, discovering the Fab Four's latest news and activities and most of all, savouring the exclusive B&W and later colour photographs, captured by in-house photographer, Leslie Bryce.
After the initial run, the magazines were reprinted when the Beatles' came back into fashion again in May 1976, first as a supplement to the Record Collector magazine, then on their own, with wraparound pages (initially eight, but later expanded to sixteen) with then current news from the solo Beatles and Beatles activities. An early editor of the wraparound news pages was a young Mark Lewisohn, who couldn't help doing some groundbreaking work. Among other things, in 1980 the 22 year old Lewisohn put together the first index over The Beatles' BBC recordings and appearances.
After all 77 magazines had been reissued, which happened with the September 1982 issue, brand new editions of the magazine continued the series, utilising photos from the vast magazine archives, as well as new stories and photos of the solo Beatles activities, plus providing an ads section where Beatles memorabilia could be bought, sold and traded - and friendships made. In a pre-internet world, The Beatles Book again managed to become a much cherished source of all things Beatle for english speaking fans and collectors, providing a monthly fix for the afflicted.
Publication continued until issue 321 in January 2003, when the magazine finally folded.
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| #193 - from May 1992. |
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| 2005: The Best of The Beatles Book. |
The magazine’s photographer, Leslie Bryce, had unrivalled access to the group throughout the 1960s, travelling the world and taking thousands of photographs. During the magazine's run only a small fraction of these photographs were printed - and then often altered in some way. The Beatles Book Monthly captured the Beatles' development from British provincial theatres - through foreign tours including their ground-breaking first American visit - and onwards to the band's withdrawal into the recording studio. It was unique in its access - as well as concert tours and television shows, the band were photographed off duty, at their homes and in the studio - locales that were generally out-of-bounds to most Beatle observers. This unique and original photographic record preserves many important moments within the Beatles' career, providing a historically important glimpse into the world's greatest ever entertainment phenomenon. The Beatles Book Photo Archives are now online, they have a website here, licensing selected photos for use in other publications. The collection consists of more than 3,500 different photos.
Now for 2015, a new book will be published, Looking Through You presents a selection of over 300 images from the precious Beatles Book photo archive, many unpublished or unseen in their original form from the original negatives, as well as the story behind the success of the regular Beatle bulletin.
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| 2015: Looking Through You |
The book is currently available to pre-order at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.