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‘The Beatles Anthology’ Book Gets 25th Anniversary Reissue

by Best Classic Bands Staff

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The landmark international bestseller—The Beatles Anthology, their own story, in their own words—is being reissued on the 25th anniversary of its first publication. The new edition, from Chronicle Books, arrives October 14, 2025, in the U.S. (pre-order here) and on November 20 in the U.K. (pre-order here).

The original title, published on September 1, 2000, came five years after the acclaimed three-part documentary that first aired on ITV in the U.K. and on ABC TV in the U.S. during Thanksgiving weekend in 1995. Volume One of a top-selling audio series arrived simultaneously. Two subsequent music collections followed in 1996. In 2021, an authorized book, The Beatles: Get Back, was published in conjunction with the release of Peter Jackson’s nearly eight-hour docu-series that streamed on Disney+, culled from about 60 hours of unseen video and 150 hours of unheard audio captured by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, for his 1970 documentary. The 2025 reissue of The Beatles Anthology 368-page book thus lends itself to immediate speculation as to whether Jackson is overseeing a similar update of the 1995 Anthology documentary.

From the publisher’s announcement: From their years growing up in Liverpool through their ride to fame to their ultimate breakup, here’s the inside story. Interwoven with The Beatles‘ own memories are the recollections of such associates as road manager Neil Aspinall, producer George Martin, and spokesman Derek Taylor. The Beatles Anthology is warm, frank, funny, poignant, and bold—just like the music that’s been a part of so many of our lives.

The Beatles Anthology is the story of The Beatles by The Beatles. Created with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono Lennon, it also includes the words of John Lennon, painstakingly compiled from sources worldwide. The Beatles Anthology is, in effect, The Beatles autobiography.

The Beatles Anthology features over 1300 images, most previously unpublished. Paul, George, Ringo, and Yoko all opened their own archives just for this project, as did Apple, EMI, and others long associated with The Beatles, allowing the unprecedented release of photographs, documents, and other memorabilia from their homes and offices. The result is an extraordinary wealth of visual material brimming on each and every page.

Watch an extended trailer for the original 1995 TV documentary

Each page is brimming with personal stories and rare vintage images. Snapshots from their family collections take us back to the days when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Richard Starkey were just boys growing up in Liverpool. They talk in turn about those early years and how they came to join the band that would make them known around the world as John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Then, weaving back and forth, they tell the astonishing story of life as The Beatles: the first rough gigs, the phenomenon of their rise to fame, the musical and social change of their heyday, all the way through to their breakup. From the time Ringo tried to take this drum kit home on the bus to their much-anticipated audience with Elvis, from the making of the Sgt. Pepper album to their last photo session together at John’s house, The Beatles Anthology is a once-in-a-lifetime collection of The Beatles’ own memories.