In 1962, as head of Parlophone Records, George Martin signed a new band from Liverpool that had been turned down by nearly every other label in Britain. The rest is history. He went on to record every track made by The Beatles and is considered to have been a vital influence on their sound, enabling them to realise their ideas as their music became increasingly ambitious. The world's most successful music producer has now written a charming memoir of his life and career.

During the two years that Playback has taken to come to fruition, Genesis Publications were allowed generous access to the private collection of George Martin and to EMI Archives. Among the unseen historic documents featured in Playback are the diary entry for George's first meeting with Brian Epstein which directly led to him signing The Beatles; notes written in the studio while recording their tracks; George's original music score for 'Eleanor Rigby'; and plans for a 'hare-brained scheme' to build a studio on a ship. Private photographs include shots of John and Cynthia Lennon, George Harrison, Brian Epstein and Cilla Black, and others taken in Florida on The Beatles' first US trip in early 1964.

Though George Martin's name will forever be associated with The Beatles, his career has encompassed far more than those four peerless talents. Before the Sixties he had already achieved success as 'the comedian's producer'; indeed he has recorded a large number of the major talents of the past fifty years, as a glance at the Cast of Characters on the right will confirm. He holds the record for having produced the most UK Number One singles (30). In 1963, records produced by him topped the UK charts for 34 out of 52 weeks, a mark that will surely never be matched. He is also an accomplished composer, arranger and conductor, the winner of five Grammy awards, the designer of three state-of-the-art music studios, an acclaimed television documentary presenter and a towering figure in the music business and Western culture.

From working-class beginnings in London in the Twenties, to a knighthood, the Party at the Palace, and the biggest-selling single of all time ('Candle in The Wind 97'), it's quite a tale, and George Martin tells it in full for the first time in Playback.

Playback is a supreme example of the art of the printer, the bookbinder and the boxmaker. The 328 pages (page size 290mm x 215mm) are masterprinted onto acid-free paper, of which 264 pages are on high-quality 200gsm matt art stock, 56 pages are on a fine textured 160gsm Fabriano paper and eight pages are on a bright orange, uncoated 160gsm Fedrigoni stock. There is a combination of colour and monochrome photography throughout and full colour endpapers. Each page is edged in silver.

Every copy of the limited edition has been personally autographed by Sir George Martin CBE as a mark of his approval.

Of the 2000 copies, those numbered 251 to 2,000 are quarter-bound in black leather, with hard-wearing buckram-covered boards adorned with a chromium name plate and silver tooling.

Copies numbered 1 to 250 are Deluxe copies, bound in full black leather, foil-blocked in silver, with the chromium name plate. Deluxe copies also feature a special copy of the EMI 6-CD box set compliation Produced by George Martin, each of which is additionally signed by George Martin himself.

All copies, Deluxe or regular, are housed in a specially-designed, hinged solander box, the cover of which is fashioned to give the appearance of a loudspeaker. The inside panels resemble part of a control desk and a turntable; the latter houses the accompanying Playback CD.

Each of the 2,000 copies of Playback is accompanied by a music CD compiled and pressed exclusively for this project, featuring the following tracks: