CANONGATE TO REPUBLISH JOHN CLASSICS

Canongate will publish facsimile editions of John Lennon's two books, In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works this December.

First published in 1964 and 1965 respectively, the books combine drawing, poetry, and stories. In His Own Write was one of the biggest books of the 1960s, selling 600,000 copies in the UK alone.

An auction of original art and poetry from the books at Sotheby's in New York earlier this month saw the pieces selling from $2.9m.

Publisher Jamie Byng said: "Fifty years on, these two books by Lennon remain wonderfully fresh and memorable and distinctive and it is a great honour to be publishing new editions of them which do justice to the original drawings. Lennon was an exceptional artist and there is a growing appreciation of this which is borne out by the recent, record-breaking sale at Sotheby’s."

The new hardback editions will be published on 8th December 2014, the anniversary of Lennon's death.