John Lennon's Private Letters to be Published in 2012; Rights Sold by Yoko Ono

By Rebecca Macatee Posted Jan 21st 2011 08:24PM

For the first time ever, Beatles' legend John Lennon's personal letters will be made public. The collection of letters will be published in October 2012, according to the Guardian.

The rights to Lennon's personal musings were purchased by London-based Orion books. There are about 150 letters in total that the iconic musician wrote over the years to friends, fans and business associates. It was Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, who sold over the rights to the publisher. She was persuaded to sell the letters by the Beatles' biographer Hunter Davis.

The letters are said to provide unparalleled access to Lennon's thoughts. The publisher paid between £500,000 to £1 million, or somewhere in the neighborhood of $1-2 million in US dollars.

Alan Samson, the buyer at Orion books, said, "These letters have never been collected in one place before, and for the most part they have never been seen before. The other reason people have gone crazy for it is the fact that there are half a dozen icons of the 20th century--Marilyn Monroe, Kennedy, Elvis-- and Lennon is one of them."

Samson added that the letters include notes the late Beatle wrote to newspapers, record companies and even an eight-year-old boy. He said the letters "are full of wonderful drawings. They are funny, sad... they are very human letters."

Just last month, Lennon's final interview was released, thirty years after his death. Lennon would've turned 70 in October of 2010.

Tags: John Lennon

Comments

(32)

Friday 21 January

By zmrc7

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Just last month, Lennon's final interview was released, thirty years after his death. Lennon would've turned 70 in October of 2010.I love reading this , So does My boyfriend .he is almost 11year older than me .i met him via age'lessmate.c'om a nice place for seeking age le ss love.which gives you a chance to make your life better and open opportunities for you to meet the attractive young girls and treat you like a king. Maybe you wanna check it out or tell your friends..

Saturday 22 January

By BTDT

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Geeeeeze Yoko, how much is enough you vulture?

Sunday 23 January

By stu

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my god Yoko...how many egg rolls do u want to buy?

By Renee

How much more money can this woman make off of John. Doesn't she have enough already. Hunter Davis did not pursuede her, yeah just like Kohls' puesueded her to put John's drawings on oneies back in the early 90's. The sad thing is, only Yoko and Sean will see the money from this. Julian won't see a dime. The poor man had to buy some of his father's things when died because Yoko did not include him in on the will.

By Julie

Agreed. Julian got shafted pretty much from birth when John cheated on his wife Cynthia with Yoko (fun fact, that's where the song "Norwegian Wood" came from). I think it's disgusting that Yoko treats one of John's sons like that. You'd think if she cares so much about John, she'd want to protect his living legacies, you know?

By jess

Hey Julie here`s a fun fact."Norwegian Wood" was written in 1965 John didnt meet Yoko til 1967 ..so your facts are wrong..John was cheating on Cynthia with someone else..Here`s another fun fact..Yoko approched Paul before John..get it right or dont say anything..

By rl

christ you know it aint easy, you know how hard it can be! the way things are goin, there gonna merchandise me

RL-

I totally agree-what's next, is she going to aution his underwear?

By mrcwinkler

I love John Lennon! I want every single piece of his private and public life, not matter what it is, to be made available for his adoring fans to see. I am sure, that if he were alive today, that there wouldn't be any aspect of his life that he would want to keep private. And now that he's dead, he's probably even more apathetic about his private life, right? Thank you Yoko, I hope that you can somehow make lots and lots of money from this!

Are you for real? Let the man rest in peace. I don't think that he wanted his private life totally exposed. Let's remember him for what is was as a person, not how much Yoko can still make off him. She is 79 what more does she want?

By Camille Toe

Get a clue, Renee. mrcwinkler was clearly being sarcastic.

I totally agree-What's next is going to aution off his underwear?

By Lenny

Yoko Ono has been Whoring off of John Lennon's Legacy for years.

The man is probably rolling over in his grave.

It's bad enough she ruined the White Album and Broke up the Beatles now she has to sell every fabric of John Lennon's soul and I agree with another poster. Whats next his underwear.

Luckily Julian and Sean Lennon picked up their fathers famous pipes and I hope they both continue their respective music careers.

Yoko is really a piece of work.

By grapost

And anything he said in the letters that make him or Yoko look bad will be edited out. They have to preserve the "Saint John" and "couple in love" image because that is what sells.

By Lucy

Greed is a terrible thing...I'm sure John would want those letters to remain PRIVATE! It's not hard to figure out why Paul,George and Ringo couldn't stand her from day 1... I wish Paul or Ringo would buy the letters and burn them!

By Ed

You are all Idiots!!

By KS

Why are they all Idiots?

By swampwitch

Yoko, you've already bilked Paul, George & Ringo out of the
Beatles songs & marketed every picture & song of John's there ever was...will you stop at nothing? "Money, That's All I Want"

By BTA707

Why are they all idiots? Because Lennon was a man whose purpose in life was to promote Peace and Love. Look at his "Bed-In" where he spent a week in bed promoting peace. He knew his honeymoon would be an event no matter what so he chose to use it, and I quote, "As an advertising campaign for Peace". All I read hear is hate. Hate towards a woman who John LOVED. Who are you to judge? Imagine all the people living for today. Get past it. Oh and another reason, John would not be spinning in his grave, he was cremated. With all the violence in the world you would think people who call themselves fans of Lennon would be a little more tolerant. Another year older and what have you done to keep his dream alive?

By KS.

Oh..OK..thanks for the rant....

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