1643. JOHN LENNON (1940-1980) English singer and songwriter, the inspirational genius behind the success of The Beatles. Murdered outside his New York apartment. Fine bold in-person signature on the half-title page removed from a book: "To Cathy love John Lennon" and adding his trademark self-portrait sketch. Ironically, the vehemently anti-war Lennon has signed on the half-title page of a book titled: THE SECRET WAR REPORT OF THE OSS. Toned a bit. Else very good. The OSS was of course the precursor of the CIA - the same organization that President Nixon had tracking Lennon beginning in 1969, suspicious of "peace movement" subversion. The surveillance continued even after Lennon had won his hard-fought immigration battle when New York State Supreme Court Judge Julius Kaufman "flexed the rules" in his favor - even more ironically, Kaufman was the same judge who sentenced the Rosenbergs to death for spying in 1953! $1,500-2,000