November 22, 1963: The Beatles in our Life

Though the Lord taketh away, the Lord always giveth as well. Case in point: November 22, 1963. The noise of the murder of JFK was so deafening that it was weeks before we realized that Kennedy's exit from this world was lit by lights no less luminous than those of C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley, who both passed, more or less quietly, on the same day. I can think of no companions more congenial for a journey such as that.

But in the midst of so much public dying, something joyful and of great cultural significance was born that day at 5 o'clock in the afternoon to be precise. That was the traditional/official time when, each Friday afternoon, Parlophone Records in London would offer their new releases for sale. On this particular Friday afternoon, 11/22/63, among the usual crop of comedy, classical, and easy listening was a record titled "With The Beatles", the first album released by the group to achieve success in the United States. In actual fact it was their second album, but a little sleight-of-hand by Capital Records and hey! Presto, you have "Meet The Beatles", wherein the Fab Four consolingly assured us they would hold your hand through the Godawful maelstrom of murder and mayhem which was the sixties.

Well, faster than you could say "Warren Report", those boys had America's ears transfixed in a wild new kind of headlight of no mean magic. And did someone say Madison Avenue? If it wasn’t nailed down, someone would plaster either the name or the picture of the Beatles on it, and thousands would stand in line to buy it – it didn’t matter what it was. Music aside, so much Beatle related ephemera was sold in the years 1964-1969 that it would take a phone book of a catalogue to list it all. Lunchboxes, wigs, shoes, ties, belts, trading cards, and on and on ad nauseum. Today, huge fortunes change hands in the back and forth buying, trading, and selling of this stuff. But there is one aspect of the Beatle experience that is curiously absent from the hoopla surrounding Beatle collectibles: books!

Having put themselves officially to rest by releasing the long anticipated "anthology" series in 1995-96, The Beatles now belong to history. Hello, good-bye. As matters stand now, the body of work the group produced rests safely and benignly behind the label of "pop music". But in this writer’s opinion, and I am sure in the opinion of many of you reading this, the coming decades and beyond will find their music, (and much else about them) ending up on the short list of musical genius in the west. My advice to anyone who ever found themselves humming "(fill in the blank)": gather together every first edition of the major titles concerning them you can, then concentrate on an item signed by all four together. The future will thank you.

By 1983 over 200 titles had been published, from the frivolous knock-off full of lies to serious works which have more than stood the test of time. Since 1983 easily another 100 titles have come out. Even so, the ratio between the number of titles produced to the number of titles on the market at any given time is ridiculously small. These books (with a few notable exceptions) are simply very difficult to find. Right now, despite their scarcity, when found they are reasonably priced. Not so when the "next wave" hits (when our kid’s kids grow up). Given the life expectancy of Beatles music, we can expect wave after wave after wave. And no matter what may be written about them from now on, contemporary source material will always take precedence for collectors. We have a fair selection of titles, some scarcer than others; one or two quite difficult to find anywhere else. Call and we will be happy to go over the list with you and to answer any questions you have.

Copyright 1996 - 2001 C. Dickens Fine, Rare and Collectible Books, Atlanta, Georgia