Offered is an autograph book signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Paul has inscribed "Best Wishes The Beatles Paul McCartney," and John added "with love" after his name. Both Ringo and George added several "Xs" after their names. The autographs were obtained after a concert on December 2, 1962, at the Embassy Cinema in Peterborough. It presents as a very early signed piece with all four Beatles--Ringo had just joined the band a few months earlier. The page is housed in a framed display with a wonderful photo of the band. The image of the band is from the first set of publicity photos taken after Ringo joined the band in August 1962.
A young lady named Carol acquired the signatures after the concert by heading to the Bull Hotel where the band was staying. As she and her friends approached the hotel, the boys were hanging out of their window and invited them in for a drink. During the evening in the bar talking with the band about touring and their recent single, "Love Me Do," she had them sign her autograph book. Her letter accompanies and reads: "I saw the Beatles at the Embassy Theatre Peterborough on 2nd December 1962 on the same bill as Frank Ifield (Ifield was actually the headliner of the concert). I went to the Bull Hotel after the show and met the Beatles and obtained their autographs." In a 2011 Evening Telegraph article about that evening, Carol remembered "It was wonderful. They were really down to earth lads and not at all caught up in the business. They seemed really relaxed and were loving performing all the time."
In the article, she goes on to recount how she came back to the Embassy in March of 1963 and met The Beatles again! She and her friends met the boys backstage, and she recounts "They had just bought a small record player but didn't have any records. So they paid for me to get a cab back to my house to pick up some of my records." Carol was still stinging during the retelling about not taking any photographs at either meeting, but the autographs she acquired more than make up for it!
Also accompanying the framed display is the original autograph book, full of other period signatures of entertainers and sports figures. Our consignor was able to back track after acquiring the Beatles page and bring it back together with the book. Signatures include: Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield (at the time still a member of her original band "The Springfields"), Cricketer Dick Richardson, Chas McDevitt (Scottish musician), Vera Lynn (English singer immortalized on Pink Floyd's The Wall), Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers (five members of the band), Brian "Licorice" Locking (English bass player in The Shadows), Jet Harris (interestingly, the English bass player Locking replaced in The Shadows!), at least 12 members of the Peterborough Football Club and dozens of others.
This is wonderful opportunity to acquire an incredibly early example of a Beatles signed piece with all four members--add to that that Paul McCartney signed "The Beatles" and this becomes one of the finest pre-British Invasion signed Beatles pieces in existence. The signed sheet is accompanied by LOAs from both noted Beatles expert Frank Caiazzo and from Beckett Authentication. The framed display measures 15 x 22 inches. The sheet measures 3 x 3 3/4 inches and presents in STUNNING NEAR MINT CONDITION.