BEATLES UK – A Hard Days Night and Sgt Pepper Fourth proof sleeve.

A Hard Days Night, PMC 1230 – black and yellow Parlophone labels.

A UK LP in original condition, featuring:

1. the card sleeve has an unusual black ink ‘speckled’ appearance, this is more noticeable to the top front, right and to the rear top, left flipback. This speckled black ink is under the laminate. This mis press sleeve should not have got passed EMIs quality control department,

2. on the record label, on side one there is an additional ‘dot’ between the label text ‘Sold in U.K.’ etc, as it reads, ‘Sold in .U.K.’ etc.

CONDITION:

THE MAIN SLEEVE: is in very good+ condition, the front is laminated. The spine is in very good+ condition and has remained a good clean white in colour, all the text on the spine is clear to read. The rear of the sleeve has the period tri flipback design. There are NO splits, tears, stickers or sticker residue. On the rear, there is a name written in blue pen. There is some age related marks to the lower rear of the sleeve.

THE INNER SLEEVE: is in good++ condition and is the original period EMI ‘Use Emitex’ sleeve.

THE VINYL: is in very good condition. The vinyl is made from thick, heavy vinyl.

The matrix  nos. are:  XEX  481 – 3N  and  XEX  482 – 3N,

The mother / stampers are:  ‘2  A C O  ’  and  ‘7   A H A ’.

THE AUDIO: is very good, it plays with some crackle, ‘pops’ and ticks to be heard here and there. The record lays flat on the turntable.

THE LABELS: side one is in excellent+ condition, side two is in excellent condition. The letters ‘K T’ are embossed around the spindle hole on side one. The labels are free from any pen writing, stickers and sticker residue.

Sgt Pepper's ‘Fourth Proof’ sleeve.

Please note this auction is just for the card sleeve only for Sgt Pepper, theres NO insert, inner sleeve or record.

A UK sleeve, featuring:

This unique variant of this album features what was a pre production sleeve, the first three ‘Proof’ sleeves never saw the light of day. These ‘Fourth Proof’ sleeves were passed around at EMI for final agreement. Never meant to be released, but a small number of these sleeves did find their way into the shops. As these were ‘Proof’ sleeves they should NEVER have left the printers.

There are a number of unique features to these ‘Proof’ sleeves when compared to the final sleeves that went onto official printing production:

1. the printed text of, ‘Fourth Proof’, ‘AR’ and ‘D 13217’ printed upside down, found on the top right flipback on the inner gatefold of the sleeve. There is a story about this that the old style of ‘visual’ flipbacks were on the way out and the sleeve for the latest Beatles LP, Sgt Pepper was to feature the new ‘hidden inner’ flipback design, (but this never happened). It was therefore thought that the above text would NOT be seen. Apparently the ‘AR’ stands for the designers initials and the ‘D 13217’ is the internal catalogue number for the printers of the sleeve, ‘Garrod and Lofthouse’,

2. the rear of the sleeve features the text ‘Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd Patents Pending’, it is only the ‘Fourth Proof’ sleeves and a very small number of other very early Pepper Mono sleeves that have the text, ‘Patents Pending’. The sleeve normally just states ‘Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd’ (G&L). By the time of the official UK launch of Sgt Pepper in June 1967, G&L had got their ‘Patents’ confirmed and this text ‘Patents Pending’ was removed from the rear of the sleeve,  

CONDITION:

THE MAIN SLEEVE: is in very good+ condition, the sleeve is fully laminated. The spine is in good++ condition, it is a strong, firm spine but there is some ‘scuffing’ wear to the middle of the spine and only about 30% of the text on the spine is readable. When the gatefold sleeve is opened the original exposed top two flip backs can be seen. There are NO stains, splits, tears or pen writing. On the inside of the gate fold sleeve there is some slight sellotape residue to each of the four corners.

TO GRADE THE CONDITION OF THE RECORD I AM USING THE OFFICIAL GRADING SYSTEM FROM THE ‘RECORD COLLECTOR’ MAGAZINE.

PLEASE WAIT UNTIL I SEND YOU AN INVOICE BEFORE YOU SEND PAYMENT.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE.

ALL PHOTOS AND RECORD DESCRIPTIONS ARE MY OWN AND ARE ALWAYS OF THE ACTUAL RECORD FOR SALE.

PLEASE ENSURE THAT ALL ITEMS ARE PAID FOR BY AT LEAST ONE WEEK FROM THE END OF THE AUCTION. I RESERVE THE RIGHT THAT IF PAYMENT IS NOT RECEIVED AFTER ONE WEEK OF THE END OF AN AUCTION THE ITEM WILL BE OFFERED TO THE NEXT HIGHEST BIDDER, OR THE ITEM WILL BE RE LISTED.

‘PICK UP’ OF ITEMS CAN BE ARRANGED BUT THE BUYER MUST PAY CASH ON COLLECTION.

POSTAGE AND PACKING.

ALL RECORDS POSTED TO A UK ADDRESS WILL BE SENT 1ST CLASS POST.

PACKING  -  ALL RECORDS ARE POSTED WITH MULTI LAYERED CARD STIFFENERS FOR PROTECTION.BEFORE POSTING, THE RECORD IS REMOVED FROM THE RECORDS ORIGINAL INNER AND OUTER SLEEVES, THE RECORD IS THEN PUT INTO A SECOND PAPER INNER SLEEVE TO MINIMISE ANY DAMAGE THAT MAY OCCUR WHILE IN TRANSIT. THE RECORD / SLEEVES ARE THEN PUT INTO A NEW PLASTIC SLEEVE FOR FURTHER PROTECTION.

DISCOUNT WILL BE GIVEN ON POSTAGE FOR MULTIPLE PURCHASES.

IN THE UK – RECORDS THAT SELL FOR OVER THE VALUE OF £45 WILL BE SENT ‘RECORDED DELIVERY’ AND THERE MAYBE AN ADDITIONAL COST FOR INSURANCE AS THE SELLER HAS NO PROTECTION IF THE ITEM GOES MISSING IN THE POST, THEREFORE POST AND PACKING CHARGES MAY VARY.

I WILL SEND RECORDS ANYWHERE OVERSEAS.

ALL RECORDS THAT ARE POSTED OVERSEAS WILL BE SENT ‘RECORDED DELIVERY’ AND THERE MAYBE AN ADDITIONAL COST FOR INSURANCE AS THE SELLER HAS NO PROTECTION IF THE ITEM GOES MISSING IN THE POST, THEREFORE POST AND PACKING CHARGES MAY VARY.

IN NON EU COUNTRY’S AN ‘IMPORT TAX’ AND A COURIERS ‘CLEARANCE FEE’ MAY NEED TO BE PAID, THIS IS DOWN TO THE BUYER TO PAY THESE FEES.

THEREFORE PLEASE WAIT UNTIL I SEND YOU AN INVOICE BEFORE YOU SEND PAYMENT.

SEE MY OTHER ITEMS FOR SALE.