Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: douglas adams, freddie mercury, isaac asimov, robert heinlein, sothebys

The Bookshelves, Comics And Cartoons Of Freddie Mercury

I went to the Freddie Mercury exhibition at Sothebey's in London last month, which included looking through the Queen frontman's bookshelves.

Published Fri, 01 Sep 2023 10:58:08 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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I went to the Freddie Mercury exhibition at Sothebey's in London last month, Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own. It is comprised of the contents of his London home, Garden Lodge, which was left with to his close friend Mary Austin when he died in 1991, and closed up after his death. She has now decided to sell the contents but only after exhaustive stocktaking, cataloguing and provenancing of all the pieces, which has taken years.

Amongst the 30,000 items are everything from the baby grand piano used to compose Bohemian Rhapsody to his personal Polaroids, original song lyrics, and paintings and drawings by artists including Goya and Salvador Dalí, his clothing, his furniture, his books and his comics.

The catalogue lists X-Men and Booster Gold as well, but it was a few old Fantastic Fours on display at the exhibition. But there were other related items as well, such as Freddie Mercury's bookshelves.

Which featured Flash Gordon comic book collections, fitting for the man who scored the movie.

But, below the Beatrix Potter, there were also Foundation books by Asimov, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detetcive Agency by Douglas Adams, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The Number Of The Beast and Friday by Robert Heinlein…

…Quantum Cats by Frederick Pohl, I Vampire by Michael Romkey and Raymond E Feist's Magician. He did like his sci-fi and fantasy – as well as books teaching him German, and plenty of Le Carre.

And there were his own cartoons and sketches, showing a man who clearly loved his comic books and illustration. And found ways to express that through his designs for Queen, party invitations and just plain old doodling.