What do you think?
Rate this book
Jimmy Page: The Anthology
From his early days as a young session musician, through his years on the world stage with Led Zeppelin, to his solo work and collaborations, Jimmy Page has lived a spectacular life in music. Throughout it all, he has amassed an extensive private archive of iconic guitars, stage costumes and personal memorabilia.
Now, in The Anthology, Jimmy Page is granting exclusive access to his archive for the first time, and telling the inside story of his phenomenal career.
In a new text of over 70,000 words, Jimmy Page guides the reader through hundreds of rare items, many of which are previously unseen, and others of mythic status, such as the Gibson double neck guitar, his dragon-emblazoned suit, his white embroidered poppy suit, and the outfit worn in the concert film The Song Remains the Same.
Also included are handwritten diaries, correspondence, rare vinyl pressings, previously unpublished photographs and much, much more. Jimmy Page has personally selected each piece to be photographed in this book, which has been created with his full participation.
The result is Jimmy Page: The Anthology. Both reflective and revealing, it is quite simply the legendary musician’s most comprehensive and fascinating account of his life to date.
Now, in The Anthology, Jimmy Page is granting exclusive access to his archive for the first time, and telling the inside story of his phenomenal career.
In a new text of over 70,000 words, Jimmy Page guides the reader through hundreds of rare items, many of which are previously unseen, and others of mythic status, such as the Gibson double neck guitar, his dragon-emblazoned suit, his white embroidered poppy suit, and the outfit worn in the concert film The Song Remains the Same.
Also included are handwritten diaries, correspondence, rare vinyl pressings, previously unpublished photographs and much, much more. Jimmy Page has personally selected each piece to be photographed in this book, which has been created with his full participation.
The result is Jimmy Page: The Anthology. Both reflective and revealing, it is quite simply the legendary musician’s most comprehensive and fascinating account of his life to date.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published October 20, 2020
15 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 11, 2020
This is just a wonderful book. A companion volume to his "visual autobiography." This volume contains many more written remembrances but is still brimful of bit and bobs from Jimmy's archives and seems to have kept nearly everything! For me all the little things he kept are just a treasure trove to go through. Seeing original itineraries, and little notes from secretaries about hotels help evoke a sense of "what it was like." I can't neglect the wonderful front and back detailed pictures of amps and guitars and various shots throughout his career. I adore this book.
June 12, 2024
Contains some lovely photos of Jimmy's guitars and related gear, stage outfits and even letters from TV and record companies, some going back as far as the late fifties. The guy never threw away a thing!
But it's not just a picture book – there's enough quality text to keep seasoned readers happy: 80,000 words of it. When I was a kid I had Led Zep 4 (my favourite album of all time) pretty much on repeat, and Led Zep 2 on vinyl, so it was fascinating to read about some of the background to these superb records, as well as all of the others of course.
Extra-Zeppelin work? Hmmm. Collaborations with some cool and not so cool cats, i.e. Paul Rodgers (The Firm) and Kenneth Anger (Lucifer Rising) respectively, though the one he seems proudest of is the performance of Whole Lotta Love with Leona Lewis at the Beijing Olympics, featuring David Beckham kicking a football. Perhaps a sad testament to the raggedness of Page's post-Zep career.
Anyway, not to end on a negative note, a great book and especially interesting if you're a fan of Jimmy Page, one of the best rock guitarists ever.
EDIT – after second reading I'm still really quite disappointed he mentions nothing about his occult stuff, not even things that go bump in the night at Boleskine house. I know if you're a knight in a satanic order you're sworn to secrecy on pain of death, but come on! who's gonna 'hit' Jimmy Page for chrissake!?
But it's not just a picture book – there's enough quality text to keep seasoned readers happy: 80,000 words of it. When I was a kid I had Led Zep 4 (my favourite album of all time) pretty much on repeat, and Led Zep 2 on vinyl, so it was fascinating to read about some of the background to these superb records, as well as all of the others of course.
Extra-Zeppelin work? Hmmm. Collaborations with some cool and not so cool cats, i.e. Paul Rodgers (The Firm) and Kenneth Anger (Lucifer Rising) respectively, though the one he seems proudest of is the performance of Whole Lotta Love with Leona Lewis at the Beijing Olympics, featuring David Beckham kicking a football. Perhaps a sad testament to the raggedness of Page's post-Zep career.
Anyway, not to end on a negative note, a great book and especially interesting if you're a fan of Jimmy Page, one of the best rock guitarists ever.
EDIT – after second reading I'm still really quite disappointed he mentions nothing about his occult stuff, not even things that go bump in the night at Boleskine house. I know if you're a knight in a satanic order you're sworn to secrecy on pain of death, but come on! who's gonna 'hit' Jimmy Page for chrissake!?
October 6, 2022
This is my favorite book! The reason is that it is a very fascinating account of Jimmy Page's life as a musician, beginning when he was a child and learning guitar, and then it goes through his session player years, his Yardbirds years, his Led Zeppelin years, and everything after Led Zeppelin up until now, and everything in between. The best part of this book are the large, high quality images, and they correspond greatly with the biographical text. I am the biggest Led Zeppelin fan, and I know WAY more about the band than ANYONE my age (I am almost 17 and I know every single song, have every album on vinyl and CD, I can memorize the track listings, and I even have bootlegs) and this book taught me very interesting things about the recording processes and instruments used that I didn't even know before. I highly recommend this book!
May 21, 2021
I took my time reading this book because I wanted to savor the photos in it. It’s for super guitar nerds who want to know what Jimmy played.
December 31, 2021
A pretty comprehensive tour of Jimmy Page’s career and all of its phases. This book has plenty of photos and (mostly) accompanying text. Some of it was a bit pedantic (many meaningless schedules and all of the clothes), but most was interesting.
June 5, 2024
Outstanding pictorial tour through Jimmy’s archive with some great background context from him
August 18, 2025
Great coffee table book profiling Jimmy's career and detailing all the stories, equipment and even the stage clothing used through out his career. I found it pretty amazing that he meticulously saved all of those things throughout the years. All the guitars and equipment I can understand but still having the outfits he wore back with the Yardbirds is amazing. There is of course a lot about how albums and other musical projects came into being, how they were produced and influenced.
This is a big, large format, book at 13" x 10" x 1.5" with 400 pages printed on top quality gloss paper.
Great book for any music fan, not just Zeppelin. Highly recommended.
This is a big, large format, book at 13" x 10" x 1.5" with 400 pages printed on top quality gloss paper.
Great book for any music fan, not just Zeppelin. Highly recommended.
April 20, 2023
Dear Jimmy,
Thank you for essentially being a pack rat and keeping literally everything. Seriously! Hard to explain how happy going through this book made me. Probably because I grew up with your music, it was a background theme all along, and short of a museum this book is the next best thing to see your music in material form. A collection of the highest quality, yet some of your equipment was surprisingly simple compared to the elaborate electronics now. Again, I thank you for sharing, and appreciate this book as a fan and as a lover of fine art. - J
Thank you for essentially being a pack rat and keeping literally everything. Seriously! Hard to explain how happy going through this book made me. Probably because I grew up with your music, it was a background theme all along, and short of a museum this book is the next best thing to see your music in material form. A collection of the highest quality, yet some of your equipment was surprisingly simple compared to the elaborate electronics now. Again, I thank you for sharing, and appreciate this book as a fan and as a lover of fine art. - J
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews