Concert program for Tyrannosaurus Rex’s seven-date tour in February-March of 1969, directly before the departure of Steve Peregrine Took and T.Rex’s shortening of the band name. Program includes song lyrics from the albums Unicorn (1969) and Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages (1968), followed by photographs of Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrine Took. Also pictured are John Peel “and his ladye” (a hamster); Peel, an early and enthusiastic promotor of Bolan’s work, was also featured on the Unicorn track “Romany Soup.” The final program page is a full-page ad for Bolan’s first book of poetry, THE WARLOCK OF LOVE, to be published in March of that year.

David Bowie also appears on the cover, billed last, as a mime. Bowie trained seriously with Lindsay Kemp, himself a student of Marcel Marceau; his opening act for this tour, though not described in the program, was a one-man depiction of China’s invasion of Tibet, and as you might imagine it was met with some hostility by audiences. Bowie and Bolan first met in 1964 when both were teenagers; Bowie’s rise to fame came several years after Bolan’s and eventually eclipsed it, contributing to a rivalry that became increasingly one-sided and would persist until 1977, when the two reportedly reconciled just a short time before Bolan’s fatal accident. A rare document from the dawn of Bowie’s career, and highlighting an underappreciated art form that would continue to inform his work and practice for the rest of his life.

$950