B40634 – Genesis Publications Hamburg Days Collector’s Edition Book (UK)

A signed, two-volume, limited edition box set, ‘Hamburg Days’ presents The Beatles as seen through the photographs of Astrid Kirchherr and the art of Klaus Voormann – with a foreword by George Harrison. Hamburg Days is Voormann and Kirchherr’s memoir of the days they spent with The Beatles in 1960-63. Few can say they were the first to hear The Beatles play live in the basement of the Kaiserkeller. In Hamburg’s nightclubs small audiences rocked to The Beatles’ raw sound long before it blazed a trail across the world. An array of newly-commissioned artworks and recollections – over 80,000 words and more than 250 photographs, watercolours, drawings and paintings – bring to life the years when Kirchherr, Voormann and the young Liverpool lads first met in Germany. When not in the clubs, they would eat together in favourite haunts, engage in conversation, roam the streets through the early hours, and travel together, to the North Sea and later, Tenerife. In his foreword George Harrison tells what made these formative years so special: a time Astrid photographed, producing an archive of unsurpassed images of The Beatles seen here in its entirety. Volume 1 contains 228 pages of Klaus and Astrid’s story alongside the complete collection of Astrid’s Hamburg photographs. Volume 2 contains 72 pages bearing reproductions of the Hamburg Days painting and associated artwork. The books are printed on 200gsm matt art paper, with trace-paper leaves and coloured wraps. Both are quarter bound in cloth with lithographed front and read boards. They are housed in a lithographed solander box complete with metal name plate. This is No. 1452 of 2250 limited edition collector’s copies, each signed by Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus Voormann. The corner has split on the right hand side of the top of the box and there is some damage to the top left corner. The condition of the box is very good minus. The condition of the books is excellent.