A talented fellow student of John Lennon’s at the Liverpool College of Art, Stuart Sutcliffe (1940–1962) played the bass (unremarkably, some note) in the first incarnation of the Beatles. Uncomfortable on stage, he soon left the group to devote himself to his art career; not long after, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of twenty-one. Manuscript poem, signed “Stuart, XXXX,” one lightly lined page, 4.75 x 4.25, no date. In full: “Your sweet lips, your lovely eyes, are the key to paradise. A guiding star is what you are…. Heaven only knows what you mean to me. Yours forever….” The original recipient, Sutcliffe’s girlfriend Astrid Kirchner, was an important influence in helping the fledgling Beatles formulate a “look”; she was also one the first photographers to capture the group on film. Matted and framed with an unsigned photo of Sutcliffe and Kirchner to an overall size of 17 x 11. Slightly trimmed right edge and faint horizontal fold, otherwise fine condition. LOA Roger Epperson/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
