The Beatles: The Original Hessy's Hire Purchase/Instalment Ledger For John Lennon's Hofner Club 40 Guitar, 1959, double-sided, dated 28/8/59 and made out to John Lennon 251 Menlove Ave. Woolton Lpool, describing him as Student and with Guarantor as Mary Elizabeth Smith Same Address, Goods Supplied detailed Club 40 Hofner Gtr. Gtr. 1318 S/N 657, financial details include Total Cash Price of £28 7 shillings, Deposit of £17 and Hire Purchase Price of £30 9 shillings, with a fairly short list of payments received by Hessy's, from 10th September 1959 to 31st July 1961, an entry in Remarks section reading 8/11/60 Son In Germany mother paying, also annotated A/C Settled, 11 1/2in x 6 1/2in (29.2cm x 16.5cm) Footnotes: For many aspiring young musicians emerging from the UK skiffle/rock 'n' roll boom in the late 1950s and early 1960s, hire purchase (or, as it was colloquially known, the 'never-never') was the only way to own an instrument. Hessy's in Liverpool was a leading retailer who supplied guitars and other equipment to many of the local bands, offering them the option of hire purchase. The Guarantor on the ledger is John's Aunt Mimi and it was she who put down the £17 deposit for the Hofner guitar. This was the day before the Quarry Men's first appearance at the newly-opened Casbah Coffee Club. John played the guitar through the following months until the Beatles (as they were then) were in their first residency in Hamburg; in November 1960 it was replaced by a Rickenbacker 325. The ledger is illustrated p. 21, Beatles Gear, Andy Babiuk, Backbeat Books, Revised Edition, 2002. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing