There has been much written in the past few months about the historic 40th anniversary of the release of the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper just before the summer of 1967. The milestone is easily one of the most important landmarks in popular culture and a high watermark for the group.

      Another important activity that summer was George Harrison visiting the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in early August. On August 24, John Lennon, his first wife Cynthia, Paul McCartney and his girlfriend Jane Asher, George Harrison and his first wife Patti, at her urging, attended a lecture on Transcendental Meditation given by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in London. The next day, all of them, along with Ringo, planned to travel to Bangor, North Wales, to participate in a weekend seminar at Normal College given by the Maharishi. Only two days later, the group's manager, Brian Epstein, was found dead at his home in London. The group immediately returned to London and Epstein's funeral was held two days later, with only family attending.

      The group met further with the Maharishi in February 1968. On February 15, George, Patti, John and Cynthia left London for India. The next day, the four began learning how to meditate at the Maharishi's ashram in Rishikesh, located high on a plateau overlooking the Ganges River. Paul, Jane, Ringo and Maureen, Ringo's first wife, arrived on February 20.

      The roughly eight weeks the group spent in Rishikesh proved to be the single most creative period for songwriting of their entire careers. Almost all of the White Album, most of Abbey Road and many other songs—some of which appeared as Beatles or solo recordings, some of which were covered by other artists and some of which were never recorded at all—were penned in India.

      Also attending at various times during their stay were Mike Love of the Beach Boys, Donovan, actress Mia Farrow, her sister Prudence, Mal Evans, the group's personal assistant and close friend since their Liverpool days, Patti Harrison's sister Jennie Boyd and a few others with a relationship to the inner circle. The only outsider who spent any time with them during part of this period was filmmaker Paul Saltzman. Saltzman's candid photos of his time with the Beatles in India were published in 2000 in his book The Beatles In Rishikesh (Viking Studio).

      Saltzman has gone back and viewed the original color slides he took and has published a special limited-edition version of the book. He will sign copies at East End Books in East Hampton on July 21 and an exhibit of photographs from the book will be on display through August 16.

      Saltzman has been a filmmaker since the 1960s. The Emmy Award winner has produced countless feature films and documentaries. He traveled from his home in Canada to the American South in the 1960s as part of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) to register voters and remains committed to TM. His chance encounter with the Beatles in the winter of 1968 was completely coincidental. Saltzman's girlfriend had just broken up with him and a friend suggested trying meditation as a way of dealing with the breakup. At the time, he was in India working on a film. He ventured to the Maharishi's ashram to learn how to meditate but was told he couldn't come in because the Beatles were there. He was so determined to learn meditation that he camped out near the ashram for eight days before finally being let in.

      Saltzman learned to meditate right away and after a short time ran into the Beatles. They were very welcoming, and John and Saltzman immediately began joking around.

      Saltzman described his time with the group in India as a "personal, deep life-changing experience," while he was working on a film in Mississippi in late spring. He explained how there were two competing voices going on his head when he first sat down on that February day. "The first voice said, 'Eek, it's the Beatles.' The second voice was the voice of the soul saying, 'They're just ordinary people like you.'" What really struck Saltzman was their "humor and playfulness," to which he added, "They were getting along beautifully; like brothers and family."

      Saltzman spent a week with the group and, after seeing they all had cameras, he asked each one individually if he could take pictures.

      Saltzman witnessed some of the earliest attempts at working out "Oh Bla Di, Oh Bla Da." "Paul was sitting with his guitar and had some lyrics on the table in front of him," Saltzman began. "Paul and John were going on and on with the chorus and stretching and trying different tempos."

      Another cherished musical moment happened with George. Saltzman was telling George how much he liked the use of sitar on "Norwegian Wood." Harrison explained how he got into the instrument. He was about to go and practice and asked Saltzman, "Do you want to come?" They went to Harrison's meditation room at the ashram and for 45 minutes Saltzman listened to Harrison play. Saltzman described the scene. "The room was all white and we were wearing all white, and the sun was streaming in and I just closed my eyes. I only wish I brought my camera. That's the one picture I missed." Saltzman also mentioned that he never got a picture of himself with the Beatles.

      If it wasn't for Saltzman's daughter, these one-of-a-kind pictures of the Beatles would have never existed. Saltzman explained, "About eight years ago my daughter asked me, 'Didn't you tell me when I was little that you met the Beatles in India? Didn't you tell me you took some pictures of them?'" It took Saltzman about three weeks, but he found the pictures. Other than a few pictures that accompanied an article he did for a Canadian magazine on meditation after his time in India, the pictures had been untouched and unseen for over 30 years. After seeing the pictures, Saltzman's daughter said, "Gee, Dad, they're really great. You should do something with them."

      Recently, Saltzman's experience with the group came full circle. He was contacted by Ringo, who wanted to use one of Saltzman's pictures as part of the photos to be used for one of his albums. He met Ringo at a rehearsal in New York and spent some time with him. This time, he got a picture of himself with one of his subjects from his time with the Beatles long ago in India.