Bob Bonis managed tours of the Rolling Stones and The Beatles and he shot photos along the way. His collection of 2,700 Stones and 750 Beatles snapshots are now being sold on eBay. The young Brit musicians wanted an experienced American manager to organize their travels in the US, and they got Bonis to take the job. Over the numerous tours from ’64-66, Bonis photographed private moments with these legendary rock stars in their prime. Bob died in 1992 and until in 2008, when his son Alex rediscovered the one-of-a-kind archive, they’d been stored for over 40 years in a basement. He partnered with Kurt Benjamin of the LA-based Rare Rock Archives to create The Bonis Archive.
“We’re not in the merchandise business. We will never do an open edition of any photos from our archive ever.”
Once an edition sells out it’ll never be reprinted. The Bonis Archive is now on sale in editions between 50 and 250, from $175 to $625. Each print comes with a certificate of authenticity from the Grammy Museum. They are all pretty amazing, as you can see. Not like Annie Leibovitz‘s famous 70s tour pics of the Stones with the boys seriously misbehaving, Bob’s pics were taken in the hedy days of their early stardom. A bit surprising that of all the internet outlets that exists that they chose eBay, but I guess in order to make the photographs accessible to fans all over the world it was a good choice. Check them out here.
(Photos, Bob Bonis Collection; via ArtNet)
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