But then I started getting some books. These of which were my main reading material at the time, some bought and some repeatedly borrowed from the library until I was able to secure my own copies (some of them over 20 years later!):
'The Beatles for the Record' was bought for me one Christmas, probably 1983.
'An Illustrated Record' was borrowed from the library again and again until I found a shop sellling it and bought my own. Sadly, my hamster escaped one night and decided to chew the corner of the cover!
The book with the Andy Warhol portrait of Paul was a great photo book, again, borrowed over and over from the library until I got this 2nd hand copy from eBay.
'The Beatles A to Z' was another library borrow then eBay buy which tantalized me with unheard Beatles' songs like 'Pink Litmus Paper Shirt' and 'Colliding Circles' which we then find out never existed! Still, I loved reading it back then (and found the cover photo fascinating as it was the only shot I'd seen from that photo shoot at the time).
'The Beatles Forever' was yet another library borrow then eBay buy which fooled me into thinking that the 'Help!' ariport disguise photos were from 'Magical Mystery Tour'. That's what the text said! Oddly, all the photos in the book stop after 1967 so the later years aren't represented despite coming out around 1977! Still, it has some great shots in it (which you can now just look up on the internet!)
I bought 'Beatles: In Their Own Words' 2nd hand so didn't need the library for that one.
And lastly, there was 'Shout!', the 1st biography I ever read. I wasn't too interested in the pre-recording history of the band back then so skipped the start. By doing that I missed out on the description of the 1960 rehearsal tapes, which surprised me when they actually surfaced and my copy of the bootleg included the text about it from the book. I looked back in my copy and there it was! Up until I got the bootleg I didn't realise tapes like that existed!
Obviously I've got loads more since then, and these have all been surpassed but they all hold a special place in my memory. I was 12 to 15 years old. Back then, I had these books, a pirate copy of 'The Complete Beatles' on VHS, some recorded 'Ready, Steady, Go' performances and each months Beatles Monthly mag. That was IT! So, what about you?
