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9.47pm
11 November 2016
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Hoping I’m posting into the right forum field, I have a question regarding Beatles Books Monthly. I have recently purchased some of the issues from eBay but I would like to be sure they are originals and not the nearly-same front cover reprints. I’m only sure about number 1 being original since it smelled like the good old books and the pages were sort of frail. Does anyone know how to spot if the books are original or reprints (any differences on some pages, writing, size of the books etc.) or if there is any good paperback guide I could buy on the topic? Any help would be appreciated!
Long Live The Beatles!
11.30pm
30 July 2014
Offline 
We used to go all the way downtown to Sherman’s Books ’64-’70’s (google it) in Baltimore to buy any and all fanzines incl. the Beatles Monthly. It was smaller than the other mags. More like 6″ X 7″. Black and white. I believe the logo was white against blue at the top, with a b&w pic on cover. (Been a long time, but we had a good stack of them!)
Sherman’s was the 1st store to sell “personality posters” (blow-ups) of your favorite stars. They also carried British fan mags which we ate up for info. (no internet!!) I could go on about Sherman’s….but I hope I was helpful in your questions about the Beatles Monthly.
Matches...Candles...Matches...Candles
5.07am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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One of the things to check is the staples. The reprints came inside newly written material. First off they came inside Record Collector, and then soon switched to the surrounding pages covering their solo careers along with retrospective articles.
If these pages have been removed to try and pass it as an original, the staples will often be looser than you’d expect and/or show some bending where the outer pages have been pulled off.
The actual reprints were exact replicas though, and off the top of my head I can’t think of anything that identified them as reprints.
There may be some slight printing differences that allow for telling between certain originals and reprints, but it’s not something I think any research has been done on.
Loose and/or slightly pulled-out staples can be a good indication though.
"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
7.20pm
28 March 2014
Offline If it looks and smells new………..
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BeatleSoul
BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms! 
10.15pm
11 November 2016
Offline SaxonMothersSon said
We used to go all the way downtown to Sherman’s Books ’64-’70’s (google it) in Baltimore to buy any and all fanzines incl. the Beatles Monthly. It was smaller than the other mags. More like 6″ X 7″. Black and white. I believe the logo was white against blue at the top, with a b&w pic on cover. (Been a long time, but we had a good stack of them!)Sherman’s was the 1st store to sell “personality posters” (blow-ups) of your favorite stars. They also carried British fan mags which we ate up for info. (no internet!!) I could go on about Sherman’s….but I hope I was helpful in your questions about the Beatles Monthly.
So lucky!! I wish there was a bookshop or at least a book fair near my home so I could just go there and probably buy off everything if they had Beatles stuff 😀 Instead, the only way I have is to buy them off eBay and there’s sadly a lot of counterfeits being sold + being able to check if the books are original by looking at pictures can be quite deceiving as well. I’d love to hear more about Sherman’s! And yes, you were helpful
Long Live The Beatles!
10.22pm
11 November 2016
Offline Ron Nasty said
One of the things to check is the staples. The reprints came inside newly written material. First off they came inside Record Collector, and then soon switched to the surrounding pages covering their solo careers along with retrospective articles.If these pages have been removed to try and pass it as an original, the staples will often be looser than you’d expect and/or show some bending where the outer pages have been pulled off.
The actual reprints were exact replicas though, and off the top of my head I can’t think of anything that identified them as reprints.
There may be some slight printing differences that allow for telling between certain originals and reprints, but it’s not something I think any research has been done on.
Loose and/or slightly pulled-out staples can be a good indication though.
Thank you very much! Being new at collecting I went out to look for some guides but ended up buying the Monthlies having to rely on the seller’s words and pictures only as I couldn’t find any related article or stuff. I have checked the issues’ sizes the other day but nothing came up since all of them turned out to be basically the same. I haven’t checked the staples yet though so thanks for the suggestion.
Long Live The Beatles!
10.30pm
11 November 2016
Offline Bongo said
If it looks and smells new………..
Sadly my nose doesn’t go as far 🙁 It stopped working after the first issue 🙁
Anyway, the 1st issue did have a strong smell of having been kept in a drawer for many years, as crazy as it sounds xD
Long Live The Beatles!
1.26pm
13 August 2017
Offline Very interested to have spotted this thread. I have collected and researched the ‘BBM’ over a number of years. In many cases, differences are easy to spot, in others less so, but I reckon to be able to spot any reprint pretty accurately. I hope it’s acceptable to mention my ebay buyers guide “Collecting The Beatles Book Monthly” (sorry, I don’t know how to insert a link here, you’ll have to search for it). I think it’s pretty thorough, although not detailing every individual copy which is partly down to the limitations of the format. It should answer most questions you have. I’d welcome any questions or comments too. Thanks
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Diane, Annie_22.43pm
21 September 2017
Offline Your Ebay Buyers Guide is excellent. I printed it out so I could use it in identifying the originals from the reprints. The information you provided is so helpful & I’m sure it will help those who are unsure if they have an original issue since there are many reprints on Ebay. I would like to know if you have any information on #9. Thank you very much!
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rockerfella4.47pm
13 August 2017
Offline Diane, glad you like it. The ebay links seem to have been severed,,so it’s not easy to locate, don’t know how that’s happened. It’s easier to google ‘collecting the b… b… monthly’, anyway. No 9 has less photo on right front, diff to explain without photo. I will update it sometime. Steve
8.00am
30 January 2018
Offline Hi Steve
Thank you so much for your fantastic guide to the differences between the originals and reprints, I have found it invaluable. I have almost completed my original set – i wonder if you could give me some tips on identifying original nos 75, 76 and 77 ?
Also does anyone have 77 for sale ?
A xxx
6.36pm
13 August 2017
Offline Annie, thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, I have tried to update it, but frustratingly unable to do so for the time being, although the ebay link seems to have been restored (for anyone interested, my ebay id is ‘rocker-fella’). Book 77 is in there, by the way, just not at the end where you’re probably looking. Steve
1.55pm
12 April 2018
Offline Hi Steve,
Your invaluable eBay buyers guide seems the have disappeared – or the link broken again. Would you be able to re-post it somewhere? I have been referring it to it regularly after re-starting my collection following a gap of 20 years or so. Such resources weren’t so accessible back then.
Any help in getting access to it would be very much appreciated…..
12.06am
12 April 2018
Offline Further to my earlier post – eBay have the ld me that the buyers guide feature is being phased out from their site so your guide is no longer available. What a shame! I’m certain that it has helped many of us to make sure our collection is correct.
If there is any chance at all that a copy can be made available elsewhere it would be fab!
7.50am
31 March 2008
Online 
@rockerfella, @Yorkshirelad
I found the archived page at on the Wayback Machine. Phew, that took a bit of digging!
Steve, I’d be happy to give the guide a new life by hosting it on this very website (in the Features section) if you’d be happy to let me. It’s a very useful guide but it’ll be quite hard to find unless it gets rehosted. I’ll fully credit you, of course. @mention me in a reply and let me know what you think.
rockerfella said
Annie, thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, I have tried to update it, but frustratingly unable to do so for the time being, although the ebay link seems to have been restored (for anyone interested, my ebay id is ‘rocker-fella’). Book 77 is in there, by the way, just not at the end where you’re probably looking. Steve
If you wanted to update it too, drop me an email (joe at beatles bible dot com) and We Can Work It Out .
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8.50am
13 August 2017
Offline Joe, thank you for that.
I protested to eBay, but they have a right to do away with Buying Guides of course. Prior notification would have been polite & helpful. Fortunately, I took the precaution of copying the text just a few months ago, I still own the collection but have not kept all photographs. The archived version you have retrieved is quite old and I had added quite a bit to it since then.
The possibility of having it re-hosted is interesting, though. Like many things we do, it has been many hours spent, unrewarded, except for the positive and kind comments from visitors over the last few years. It would be a shame if it never saw the light of day again.
Perhaps that is something we could discuss?
Steve
2.15pm
12 April 2018
Offline Joe – thanks for finding the archived pages. Much appreciated.
Steve – if you have an updated version and Joe is willing to host it then I’m sure there would be lots of Beatles fans who would find it invaluable.
I’ve just got an original #77 which I think completes my collection ? I just need to check them all again against your guide.
Thanks again to you both.
Tim
