The Beatles Autographs - Presented by Frank Caiazzo

SI4. A Letter Written By John Lennon To A Fan In Early 1963
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SI4. A Letter Written By John Lennon To A Fan In Early 1963

This letter was fully handwritten by John Lennon in black fountain pen on a sheet of stationary paper which measures 8” x 10”. He starts off by writing his return address in the upper right hand corner: “251 MENLOVE AVE WOOLTON LIVERPOOL 25 LANCS” (Lancashire). This, of course, is "Mendips", the childhood home where he lived with his Aunt Mimi from 1945 until 1963, when The Beatles' growing fame necessitated a move to London.

The letter reads:

“Dear Dawn,
Thanks for your letter, glad
you liked the show.
For fan-club information,
I can’t tell you about opening a
Stoke-on-Trent branch but I suggest
you get in touch with the Northern
Branch here in Liverpool and they can
let you know all about it. The address is
NEMS 12-14 Whitechapel
Liverpool 1.
Lancs.
Thanks again – hope to be
in Hanley again soon.
Cherrio (sp)
love
John
Lennon
X"

Hanley was one of six towns that comprised Stoke-on-Trent and The Beatles played there only twice in their career -- on March 3, 1963 (the final night of the Helen Shapiro tour, during which The Beatles were an opening act for a 16 year old girl) and again on May 19, 1963 (the second night of their tour with Roy Orbison).

This letter, in response to one the fan had written to John following the March show in Hanley, as the signature dates from early March of 1963. (By May, just two months later, characteristics within John’s signature had changed noticeably). On March 5th, just two days after that first Hanley gig, the band recorded their third single "From Me To You/Thank You Girl" and on March 22nd, their first LP "Please Please Me" was released. By the time they returned to Hanley with Orbison in May, The Beatles were so enormously popular that they would soon grab the spotlight from the American headliner, taking top billing on the tour. They had already come a long way in just two months.

This letter represents one of the very few times that Lennon personally answered fan mail with a handwritten letter and it is certainly one of the last times he ever wrote to anyone from "Mendips" before his move to London. Once he took up residence in the city, the demands on his time grew exponentially and he rarely had the time for long personal replies like this one.

The charm of this letter lies not only in the fact that it was written from his childhood home, but that he takes the time to personally direct a fan to the proper source for Beatles fan club information. Naturally he provides her with the address for Brian Epstein's NEMS store on Whitechapel Street in Liverpool, which at the time was the "Eppy-center" of the Beatle universe! Shortly thereafter, The Official Beatles Fan Club would be located on Monmouth Street in London.

The letter is in very good condition, with non detracting mailing fold marks, tape residue at top left and a small tear to the right of this residue.

Letters handwritten by John Lennon are extremely desirable and few are offered for sale in any given year. This is a truly rare opportunity to own a letter written by John just prior to The Beatles' quick astronomical rise to an unprecedented level of fame, which began right after this letter was written, following the release of their first LP record “Please Please Me”.....$19,500

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