1984: Genesis Publications Limited, Hedley, New Zealand. First edition. One of two thousand copies signed by Derek Taylor, George Harrison, and illustrator Larry Smith. A Very Good copy in like slipcase. Publisher's half leather over brown cloth boards with ship emblem in red and gilt. Spine sunned and a bit rubbed. All edges gilt. With a spot of toning to half-title at fore-edge. Lacking the publisher's glassine. Slipcase with some smudging and abrasion. This copy from the collection of Stanley Dorfman, a painter, producer, and director who co-created the BBC television show Top of the Pops. Over the sixteen-year-span that he worked on Top of the Pops and the associated program In Concert, Dorfman met many famous musical acts, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Frank Sinatra, and Duke Ellington; it was during this time that Dorman befriended both Derek Taylor and George Harrison.

Fifty Years Adrift is the show business memoir of Derek Taylor, who worked as the press officer for the Beatles for four years (1964, 68-70) and later became the publicist for acts like the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Mamas & the Papas. Even after departing from his position with the Beatles, Taylor remained in creative collaboration with individual bandmembers for decades. Taylor and George Harrison worked particularly closely: Taylor and Harrison co-wrote Harrison's autobiography, I, Me, Mine (1980); Harrison edited Fifty Years Adrift as well. Taylor's autobiography, supplemented with dozens of photographs and reproductions of concert posters and other promotional material, is a rich record of his decades-long career working alongside some of the most famous musical acts in history. Very Good (Item #8319)