John Lennon: The Lost Album

October 6, 2005 - April 6, 2006

Black handwritten John Lennon signature with THE LOST ALBUM in green capital letters below on a white background.

 

Black and white photo of a young John Lennon with short hair, looking toward the camera, background includes a metal mesh.

John Lennon, along with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr achieved superstardom as the rock and roll band, The Beatles. But before Lennon travelled the globe playing music with The Beatles, this boy from Liverpool, England saw the world in a whole different way – through stamps.

Lennon's older cousin, Stanley Parkes, inspired the future Beatle's interest in stamp collecting and gave him this album. Lennon replaced Parkes' name and address on the album's flyleaf with his own. He added his address at Mendips, the home he shared with his aunt Mary (“Mimi”) and her husband George Smith. Already a budding artist, Lennon sketched a beard, a mustache and a pipe on the likenesses of Queen Victoria and King George VI on the album's title page. Lennon continued to collect and trade stamps for several years after receiving this album.

Stanley Parkes (Lennon's older cousin), age 15 and John, age 8, stand outside a house; Stanley is in a suit, John is in shorts, posing with a bicycle.
Stanley Parkes (Lennon's older cousin), age 15 and John, age 8 posing in front of Lennon's childhood home.
Photo courtesy of Time/LIFE.
Worn green book cover titled Mercury Stamp Album with an illustration of Mercurys head in the center.
Cover of Lennon's 1940s Mercury stamp album.
An open, worn notebook with handwritten notes, addresses, and doodles, including the name John Lennon.
Front flyleaf showing Lennon's signatures and address.
 
Open book displaying the title page of the Mercury Postage Stamp Album, Sixth Edition, with stamp images and text.
Title page showing Lennon's “embellished” images of British monarchs.
Print of a black stamp with white portraits of Queen Victoria and King George, marked 1840-1940 and blue ink scribbled on faces.
Title page detail: a view of Lennon's “embellished” images of British monarchs from the album's title page.
 
An open stamp album showing colorful vintage stamps from New Zealand, arranged neatly on two pages.
The New Zealand stamps Lennon obtained through correspondence with relatives.
Open stamp album displaying various vintage U.S. postage stamps and CSA postage stamps arranged on two pages against a white background.
Pages showing stamps from the USA and the Confederate States of America.

John Lennon: The Lost Album