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Pre-Breakup Letters Signed by The Beatles Up for Sale

The Beatles arrive in America on February 7, 1964
The Beatles arrived in America on February 7, 1964. They announced their split six years later.

A pair of letters that foretold the breakup of the Beatles are up for sale for a combined $550,000.

The letters were sent to John and Lee Eastman in January and April of 1969 with the intent to hire, and subsequently fire, the two attorneys. John and Lee were also the father and brother of McCartney’s wife Linda, whom he married in March of that year.

The January letter retains the Eastmans to act on behalf of the entire band as the group’s legal and financial managers. The letter is available for $225,000 and is signed by all four Beatles.

The April letter, available for $325,000, is signed by John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. It severs their working relationship with the Eastmans.

“This is to inform you of the fact that you are not authorized to act or to hold yourself out as the attorney or legal representative of “The Beatles” or of any of the companies which the Beatles own or control,” reads the second of the two letters.

“We recognize that you are authorized to act for Paul McCartney, personally, and in this regard we will instruct our representatives to give you the fullest co-operation.”

The band had disagreed over how to proceed with management after realizing their company Apple was in financial disarray. John, Ringo and George would go on to retain Allan Klein (manager of the Rolling Stones) as their business manager, while McCartney continued to work with his father- and brother-in-law.

The Beatles’ longtime manager Brian Epstein passed in 1967. The band publicly split in April of 1970 and their partnership was formally dissolved in court in January of 1975.

The second of the two letters previously sold at auction to a private collector in 2005. It went for a price of £48,000. 

The letters are available individually through Moments in Time.

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