Rare signed book: In His Own Write. Eleventh printing. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1964. Pictorial hardcover, 5.75 x 7.25, 78 pages. Signed on an opening page above a printed sketch in ballpoint by John Lennon. Autographic condition: fine. Book condition: VG/None, with edgewear and worn spine corners.
Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Tracks and a letter of provenance from a previous owner, who states that the signature was obtained when the Beatles played a concert at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, on August 19, 1966. Published in London in 1964, Lennon's first literary effort is a thin volume comprised of nonsensical, disjointed short stories and line drawings. The first solo effort of any of the Beatles, In His Own Write remains a great showcase of Lennon's creative talent.
The eighth date of the Beatles’ final tour took place at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, where they performed two concerts. The tour, however, was mired in controversy arising from republished comments made by Lennon in a March 4th interview in the London Evening Standard newspaper, in which he stated that the Beatles were ‘more popular than Jesus.’ Although they had sought to downplay the statement in press conferences and interviews, there was much opposition to them, manifested in record-burning, radio boycotts, and protests outside venues. The anti-Beatles feelings were particularly strong in America’s Bible belt, and a local preacher, the Reverend Jimmy Stroad, staged a rally outside the Coliseum. Six members of the Ku Klux Klan picketed outside the venue wearing full robes and, during the second show, a cherry-bomb was thrown onstage during ‘If I Needed Someone.’ The group didn’t stop playing, but they all looked at each other to see who had been shot. ‘It was that bad,’ Lennon later remembered.
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