Hunter Davies, the prolific British writer whose 1968 biography of the Beatles â€" “The Beatles: The Authorized Biography†â€" offered a close-up and detailed, if somewhat sanitized, portrait of the group while it was still together and at the height of its power, has donated a handful of Beatles song manuscripts and John Lennon letters to the British Library.
The handwritten lyrics to “Strawberry Fields Forever,†“She Said She Said†and “In My Life,†three of Lennon's most deeply personal songs, are working copies, complete with crossings-out and revised word choices. They will be on display, along with other Beatles lyrics already in the library's collection â€" some loaned by Mr. Davies soon after his Beatles biography was published â€" in the Treasures Gallery, where Shakespeare folios, the Magna Carta, correspondence from British monarchs and manuscripts of Beethoven and Maimonides are also on display.
Mr. Davies, 77, made his gift under the terms of the Cultural Gifts Scheme, a new section of the British tax code that allows donors to receive a reduction in their taxes equivalent to 30 percent of the donated object's value. The library has not announced the value of the gift, but Lennon's handwritten lyrics for “A Day in the Life†were sold at auction in 2010 for $1.2 million, and his manuscript copy of “All You Need Is Love†sold for a similar price in 2005.
Besides his authorized biography, which included first-hand accounts of writing sessions for songs on “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band†â€" but was criticized for the degree to which the Beatles were allowed to delete passages that they felt would tarnish their image â€" Mr. Davies has written “The Quarrymen,†a 2001 book about Lennon's pre-Beatles band, the Quarry Men, and edited “The John Lennon Letters†(2012). He is currently at work on a book about Beatles song manuscripts.
