I got to go to a garage sale (or where you live they might call them “yard sales”) last Saturday morning.  I try whenever I can to have a brief look at garage sales because you just never know what people might have out for sale….and this time I was in luck.

There was only one Beatle item there, but it was a beauty:

It was copy of a large and heavy book called “The Beatles – Then There Was Music”.  This book was published in Australia by New Holland Press in November, 2007.  It was first published in the UK by Transatlantic Press the same year.

“The Beatles  – Then There Was Music”  is written by Tim Hall and it’s illustrated with hundreds of  photographs from the archive of London’s Daily Mail newspaper. The cover also says: “The complete story of four lads who shook the world. Classic, rare and unseen photographs. Memorabilia. Chronicle. Original news coverage”.

I picked this up for just $5.00. And it is practically brand new. You can see at the publisher’s official Australian website that it actually retails for $49.95.

As I said, lots of interesting photographs, and at the bottom of every page is a timeline.  For example, in August, 1964 the Beatles North American tour started when they arrived in San Francisco and played the first of 25 dates with a show at the Cow Palace on Geneva Avenue. On August 20 they traveled to Las Vegas Nevada and played two shows at the Convention centre there:

From Vegas the band traveled to Washington state, and then on August 22 they appeared at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver. The next day they played the now famous Hollywood Bowl concert in Los Angeles. You can see the ticket stubs for both these concerts in the in picture above.

Scattered throughout the book there are also small vignettes of those who were a part of the Beatles inner circle – including one for long-time Beatles minder Mal Evans, who’d been with the band from the very earliest of days in Liverpool. You can see that entry for Mal below, along with a photo of the band rehearsing for a performance on the BBC’s “Top of the Pops” TV show:

This book has lots of great newspaper photographs from the Daily Mail – including these two below.  Paul and Linda celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Sgt Pepper” with a big slice of cake, and George playing at a tribute concert to one of his rock’n’roll heroes, Carl Perkins:

There’s also a complete discography (from 1962 up to 2006) beginning with January 5, 1962 and “My Bonnie” right through to the Beatles “Love” in 2006. Here’s the page for the year 1980 including entries for the “Rarities” album, “The Beatles Ballads” release, and the Beatles Box set (UK release):

So, thats it. “The Beatles – Then There Was Music”.  A collectors item discovered at a garage sale. I always say that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Let me know of any great second-hand Beatles finds you’ve made.

See also the recent post on another similar, but probably not as comprehensive book, simply called “The Beatles“.