Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite: the poster that inspired The Beatles
Play video
Welcome to Kite. We create fascinating, exclusive art prints in open and limited editions
Starting with our famous reproduction of John Lennon’s Victorian circus poster that inspired The Beatles’ Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!, we go to extraordinary lengths to produce beautiful, museum-quality art that lasts a lifetime.
From our studio in London, England we ship prints all over the world and the people who buy our work love what we make.
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite: A Limited Edition Print
In 1967 John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote a song called Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! for the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!. The inspiration – and many of the lyrics – came from a letterpress-printed circus poster from 1843 that Lennon had bought in an antiques shop.
We have lovingly recreated that poster, using antique wooden and metal type as well as specially-commissioned wood engravings. Every print is hand-pulled on a Victorian press and individually numbered.
See the printStephen Hawking's Time Travellers Invitation
Professor Stephen Hawking devised an ingeniously simple experiment to determine whether time travel into the past was possible. The success of the experiment entirely depends on his invitation being seen by time travellers.
To tie in with this experiment, and with Professor Hawking's approval, we have created this poster printed in two letterpress limited editions and an open edition. It was meticulously assembled using antique wooden and metal type. Purchasing this print may help to prove that time travel is possible!
See the print
Last posting dates for Christmas 2022
As Christmas approaches, do make sure that you leave enough time for your prints from Kite to reach you. Postal services still haven’t caught up to their pre-pandemic performance, so here's our best advice for 2022…
Two KITE prints featured in new book!
Two of our prints have been featured in a recently published book: The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight – written by cognitive scientists Thomas Suddendorf, Jonathan Redshaw, and Adam Bulley.
The Life of Pablo: Black History Month
The life of circus owner William Darby, better known as Pablo Fanque, has been highlighted by Historic England to mark Black History Month in the UK.
Time Traveller's Invitation on display at the Science Museum
One of the two Time Traveller’s Invitation prints given to Stephen Hawking in 2013 is currently on display at London’s Science Museum
