The Observer published its first Jane Bown photograph in December 1949, beginning a romance between Britain's oldest Sunday paper and the country's most loved photographer that still flourishes.

Working almost exclusively in black and white and in natural daylight, Bown has produced photographs which seem to capture a subject's mystery. Known for working quickly, unobtrusively and decisively, she often snatched great pictures in impossible circumstances and has an eerie instinct for capturing the perfect moment, even from the midst of a scrum of in a rushed interview.

Now for the first time her followers have the chance to see pictures that never made the newspaper - the ones that hit the cutting room floor. Including classic images such as the Queen, Mick Jagger, Bjork and the Beatles as well as a body of largely unknown body of work from the 1950s and 60s.

This definitive collection illustrates why Jane Bown is hailed as one of the UK's pre-eminent portrait photographers.

A collection of iconic and unseen portraits by one of Britain's best-loved photographers. Bown has a large and devoted following among "Observer" readers (she's worked with the paper for almost sixty years) and photography fans at large. This collection includes previously unseen b&w portraits of the Queen, Orson Welles, Samuel Beckett, Quentin Crisp and John Lennon. An exhibition at Kings Place in London will accompany the launch of the book and the "Guardian/Observer" will offer promotional support.

Working almost exclusively in black and white and with natural light, Jane Bown produces astonishingly candid photographs that reveal the private side of her famous subjects. This collection not only presents Jane's well-known shots, it also goes behind the scenes to reveal unpublished pictures - the ones that hit the newsroom floor.