Just back from a holiday in Europe where we picked up some nice Beatle treasure for the collection. This is the fourth and final instalment…

Ever since it was released way back in 2011 we’ve been on the lookout for a reasonably priced copy of the book Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs, published by the creative and interesting Taschen book company.

This book actually came out in four versions: a standard edition; a larger-format standard edition; a collectors edition (limited to 750 copies); and two art editions (of 125 copies each with a photographic print provided). The collector and art editions were always going to be way out of our price range (at £1,750 for the collectors edition, and £3,500 for an art edition!). But because we’ve always liked Linda McCartney’s photography a standard edition presenting some of her best images would be nice….

Turns out in Paris there’s a dedicated Taschen store. It’s in the trendy St Germain des Prez area, at 2 rue de Buci:

On the day we accidentally stumbled across this very groovy-looking bookshop they just happened to be having a big clearance. All stock was drastically reduced, and on the shelf was a sample copy of the of Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs (the standard edition). True, it’d been in the store a while and was a little shop-soiled – but not badly. It was on sale for €14.99 (that’s about $22.00 Australian, or US$16.00): 

The striking cover image of Paul McCartney was taken in Los Angeles by Linda McCartney in 1968.

Inside the book traces Linda’s photographic career, beginning around 1966 and up to 1997, with images selected from her archive of over 200,000 photographs. It is edited by Alison Castle and produced in close collaboration with Paul McCartney and their children. Included are forewords by Paul, Stella, and Mary McCartney. There are also two appreciations of Linda’s work, one by the celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz, and the other by art historian Martin Harrison.

Linda McCartney was one of the leading artists documenting the mid-to-late 1960s music scene:The book contains great photos of the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Hendrix, B.B. King, Neil Young and Pete Townsend – to name just a few. There are of course some great Beatle shots, still-life, movie stars and landscapes. But the bulk are of Paul McCartney and the couple’s family – all beautifully composed and interesting in their own right:

Really like this one below of Paul working with John in 1968 – one of the happier times during the recording of the White Album no doubt:

For some reason this shot from 1970 of Paul writing amidst a domestically crowded table in Scotland reminds us of something:

Could it have been at least part inspiration for Linda’s work three years later for the rear cover of Band on the Run?

And we also like this one of Paul, with artist Willem de Kooning, taken in East Hampton, New York in 1983: Here’s the rear cover – the sticker says €29.99, but we got it for less than that….

See also: Beatles Stuff We Found on a Visit to France – Part One and Part Two, plus Some Local Beatle Pressings From a Visit to Holland