Comprehensive New Queen Book Coming

40 Years of Queen by Harry Doherty is an official publication, fully approved by the band, telling their story right from the very beginning. It showcases moments in the band's history through photographs, as well as truly unique pieces of memorabilia from the private collections of Queen's members.

The tribute will give fans unprecedented access to all areas, and the chance to get their hands on some fascinating, intimate memorabilia for the first time ever: backstage passes, handwritten lyrics, ultra-rare posters, original tour itineraries, handwritten letters, limited-edition records, invites to the now-legendary tour parties, a CD of all four members of the band talking and more.

Harry Doherty has worked as a music journalist since the early 1970s, when he joined Melody Maker as a staff writer. He continued to write on rock for the next four decades. He writes features for music publications including Classic Rock magazine.

Brian May says of the book "Here's a secret. As I write this, I actually haven't read what Harry has written for the book, to string the images together. This is unusual – letting go of control is not one of my usual talents – normally I'm all over something like this, editing it to get rid of the inaccuracies. But in this case, I don't want to go there. Harry is one of the very few people I trust to speak the truth as he sees it. I probably won't agree with everything he has said here – but I know that it will all have come from a place of goodwill, and a spirit of sharing his thrills – he never lost his boyish enthusiasm. As I'm sure you will be able to see. In fact, Harry specifically asked me to tell you that his words for this publication are intended as a feast for fans, as pure pleasure. Thanks Harry. I think the rest of the contents of this book are self-explanatory. Enjoy!"

The memorabilia packaged with the book includes:

• Liverpool concert poster, Christmas 1973
• Very early Rainbow poster 1974
• Ticket from Rainbow concert, November 1974
• First US tour press pack including press release, photos and poster, 1973
• Hand-drawn tour map, Europe 1974
• Four handwritten letters from the band to the Queen Fan Club, 1975
• Bohemian Rhapsody blue vinyl record with cover, 1978 (paper facsimile)
• Race card from Kempton Park race course, A Day At The Races launch, 1976
• Signed poster for A Day At The Races, offered by the fan club, 1976
• EMI promotional flyer for A Day At The Races, 1976
• Press release from US version of News of the World, 1977
• European tour backstage pass, 1979
• Unused ticket from Nagoya, Japan concert, 1979
• European tour menu, 1978
• Flash Gordon film premiere ticket, 1980
• Invitation to the Hot Space end-of-tour party, 1982
• Hot Space promo cube, 1982
• Four handwritten song lyrics from The Works: I Want To Break Free (John); Hammer To Fall (Brian); It's A Hard Life (Freddie); Radio Ga Ga (Roger).
• Unused ticket to Knebworth, August 9, 1986
• The Miracle promotional poster, 1989
• Crazy tour poster, 1979
• Sticker sheet
• Interview CD featuring all members of the band talking to Tom Browne on BBC Radio 1. Originally broadcast in December 1977

The Release date is 3 October in the U.K