An Indica Books & Gallery business card, on the back of which John Lennon has written his name and the address of his house, ‘Kenwood’ in Weybridge, for the mailing list of the shop, circa June/July 1966.  Lennon’s writing has been authenticated by Frank Caiazzo, the world’s foremost expert on Beatles autographs, whose letter of authenticity is included.

Indica Books & Gallery was the London bookshop and art gallery at the center of the mid-60’s counterculture, founded in 1965 by Barry Miles, John Dunbar, and Peter Asher, brother of McCartney’s girlfriend Jane and half of the duo Peter and Gordon. Paul McCartney helped put up the shelves and designed the wrapping paper. In the summer of 1966 the bookshop separated from the gallery and moved to 102 Southampton Row.

In the influential History of Rock Music in 500 Songs podcast, music historian Andrew Hickey says of Indica ‘McCartney was a frequent customer…and encouraged the other Beatles to to go along,’ adding that Indica ‘would play an immense role in the group’s history.’

On the back of Miles’ card, Lennon has written his name and the address of Kenwood, his home in Weybridge. Below that, Barry Miles’s has added the name “Bosch.”

The accompanying signed letter of provenance from Miles, McCartney’s biographer, longtime friend, and Indica co-founder, explains that the shop began a customer mailing list soon after the move, and that the Beatles were added to it at McCartney’s suggestion: “Knowing that the Beatles would never get around to contacting us, Paul McCartney asked me to simply send anything I thought of interest to all four of them, plus Brian Epstein, and bill the NEMS office… I already knew Paul’s address as he was a friend but when John Lennon came in with Peter Asher one day I asked him for his address, which he wrote on the back of my business card as we didn’t have any scrap of paper.”

The word “Bosch,” added by Miles, is a reminder to send Lennon a book on the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, which Lennon had asked him for.

The British pop artist Derek Boshier later recalled Lennon telling him that Bosch was his favorite painter, and Lennon himself once described how “I dream in colour, and it’s always very surreal. My dream world is complete Hieronymus Bosch and Dali. I love it, I look forward to it every night.”

This was signed at a critical point for The Beatles: Indica’s above referenced move came as the Beatles completed Revolver and left on their tours of Germany, Japan, and the Philippines. Within weeks they would play their last-ever concert, at Candlestick Park that August.  That November, at Indica’s Mason’s Yard gallery, John Lennon met Yoko Ono.

The only Indica business card we have encountered, and its hard to imagine a better one.

With Barry Miles’s signed letter of provenance, Frank Caiazzo’s letter of authenticity, and Recordmecca’s written lifetime guarantee of authenticity.

In Excellent condition. 2″ x 3″.