The Rolling Stones have announced a new photo book, The Rolling Stones: 50, which will hit stores on July 12, 2012 and display an array of images marking the fiftieth anniversary of the band’s first gig.

The book, which will be published by Thames & Hudson in the United Kingdom and will include some 700 images taken by Philip Townsend, the photographer for the band’s first ever photo shoot. Many of the photos were taken from the Daily Mirror’s archive, which contains the largest newspaper assemblage of Rolling Stones images.

“This is our story of 50 fantastic years,” the band said in a statement from the official Rolling Stones website, “Curated by us, the book features the very best photographs from, and beyond our archives.” The book will also feature pictures and writing which were handpicked by frontman Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Ronnie Wood and drummer Charlie Watts.

The 352-page hardback edition will debut 50 years to the day of the band’s on-stage debut at the Marquee Club in London in 1962. It will later be released in North America in the fall. Ronnie Wood recently hinted that the band is also “on the verge” of touring this year. He said: “Be lovely, wouldn’t it? That’s what we’re on the verge of. I don’t know what is going to happen yet but we all feel we owe it to ourselves and to the people to do something.”