World Countdown was an enigmatic music newspaper that appeared fortnightly in California between August 1966 and July 1969. It offers the most vivid window possible onto the rapid evolution of the Californian music scene in those fabled days – but original copies are very rare and expensive.

For the first time ever, Lansdowne Books is delighted to be able to preserve and share its wondrous contents in this huge volume, created with the blessing of founding editor Charles Royal’s family and including a detailed introduction by Richard Morton Jack, setting out its fascinating history with further imagery. A lavish limited-edition hardback, World Countdown contains high-quality reproductions of every page from its remarkable first year: sixteen issues spanning the end of the Beatles’ performing career and the full flowering of underground rock with the Monterey International Pop Festival.

Packed with counter-cultural ads and ephemera, as well as imagery and information about acts both celebrated (Buffalo Springfield, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Love, Jefferson Airplane) and lesser-known (the Daily Flash, the Charlatans, the Wildflower, Kaleidoscope, the Sons of Adam and many more), this book is essential for lovers of 60s rock and graphics.