A new collection of George Harrison’s early Beatles photographs is set to be published later this year, including a never-before-released song.
The Third Eye: Early Photographs will be released on October 8 via Ebury Spotlight, collecting more than 200 never-before-collected photographs taken by Harrison between 1963 and 1969.
Many of the images will be published for the first time, and will include Harrison’s personal photos and 8mm film stills from The Beatles’ rise to global fame, from their first trip to the US to their times in Paris, Australia, Miami, Rishikesh and Tahiti.
The collection has been compiled and curated by Olivia Harrison, the late Beatle’s widow, and will also feature an introduction by author Colm Tóibín and an afterword by Booker Prize-winning novelist George Saunders.
In an essay accompanying the collection, Olivia Harrison said: “I want to show people, from George’s unique photographic perspective during the Beatles’ early years, that moment when the whole of your life is ahead of you with unknowable possibilities.”
She added that the images in The Third Eye capture “that spirit that George’s life possessed”.
Alongside the standard hardback edition, a limited number of deluxe editions will also be available, featuring a cloth-bound, foil-stamped book housed in a specially designed case. The edition will also include a seven-inch vinyl of a never-before-released song recorded by George Harrison, four photo prints and signed, numbered cards from Olivia Harrison.
The announcement comes as renewed attention continues to surround The Beatles, with Sam Mendes currently working on his ambitious four-part biopic project The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event.
The films, which are due to arrive in April 2028, will tell the story of the band from the perspective of each member. Joseph Quinn will play Harrison, with Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.
The supporting cast also includes Aimee Lou Wood as Harrison’s first wife Pattie Boyd, Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney, Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono and Mia McKenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey. No casting has yet been confirmed for Olivia Harrison, who met George in the 1970s and married him in 1978.
Boyd recently said that no one attached to the upcoming biopics had reached out to her, despite Wood being cast to portray her. “I could have really told them great stories,” she said.
McCartney, meanwhile, recently hailed Mescal as “very cute” ahead of the films, while joking that the actor “might do a good job” playing him.
Elsewhere, fans recently marked the first official Global Beatles Day on June 25, while long-lost footage of the band’s 1964 Top Of The Pops performance was found after more than 60 years.
A new official fan destination, ‘The Beatles At 3 Savile Row’, is also set to open in London in 2027 at the band’s former Apple Corps headquarters, where they played their final public performance on the rooftop in 1969.
