THE BEATLES - WHITE ALBUM WIDESPINE PMC 7067/8 1ST PRESS LP LOW NUMBER & STAMPS

	£		120
	$		159

NOVEMBER 1968

THE BEATLES

'WHITE ALBUM'

ORIGINAL 1ST UK MONO PRESS NUMBERED

Catalogue no. PMC 7067/ 7068

Master Matrices XEX 709-1/ XEX 710-1/ XEX 711-1/ XEX 712-1

THE 1st MONO PRESSING WITH WIDE SPINE SLEEVE

The Sleeve: 1st & original inner Flip back wide spine Top-Loader sleeve in a Good Plus/ Very Good Minus Condition.

It is fully laminated with some moderate storage wear on the edges and opening. All text legible and pictorials clear and glossy with a little off-white discoloration in places, some storage wear on the back where there is a patch of laminate peeling and a single long crease mark. There is no handwriting or writing imprints, and no stickers or sticker residue anywhere. The spine is 8mm wide and is the first and original. Inside the gatefold is excellent, smooth and glossy with no creasing and clear text print with unblemished black & white pictorials. It is widely accepted that these first wide spine sleeves were made in order to fit the collection of 4 portrait photographs and the full length fold-away poster. Due to storage issues at EMI the spines subsequently became narrower with later numbered copies and re-issues in the following years. The wide spine variant is therefore the first and original and far more rare than subsequent sleeves. All first sleeves were made in order to allow the vinyl LP's to be inserted from the top.

The first 300,000 numbered sleeves were for the first and second mono pressings, and the next 300,000 sleeves were for the first and second stereo pressings. This makes 600, 000 numbered copies for 1st and 2nd pressings, the 7 digit number on all of these first sleeves begins with a '0'. This is copy number 0058390. The laminate along the spine's length inside and out is intact, as is the laminate everywhere else inside the gatefold the sleeve.

There are no rips or splits anywhere. The sleeve is sturdy and firm and hold the records and inserts well.

Inner Sleeves: The White Album came with black inner sleeves with a circular aperture on the front to allow the record labels to be seen, and full plain cover backs. The inner sleeves are in Excellent condition with no rips or splits.

Poster: Excellent Condition. No marks or blemishes.

The Four Portrait Photographs: Excellent Condition. No creases.

The Vinyl: The Vinyl's are in a Very Good condition. There are no feelable scratches on either side but there are a lot of noticeable light stylus hairline marks on the surfaces on both sides of both discs, mainly visible under strong light. There are no scuffs or warps or dinks in the vinyl or anything that is causing any lengthy problems to the playback. The glossy sheen is still present and there are no areas of dulling or groove wear. The records have received a lot of plays but have been handled well.

The records lay completely flat on the turntable.

Heavy robust sixties vinyl's weighing at around 160 grams.

Record 1 has the first labels with no 'E.M.I. Recording' text on both sides.

Labels are at least Very Good Plus, near Excellent. All text is clear and bright, the perimeter area around the spindle location point are neat and have on extremely minor wear for a first pressing, and feint spindle line traces can be seen in normal light but are not particularly heavy or numerous. The apples are the darker green colour from the 1st pressing.

Mother/ Stamps   - Side 1: 1 HR (1st Mother 72nd Stamper)

                              - Side 2: 3 HH (3rd Mother 77th Stamper)

                                  - Side 3: 5 GDG (5th Mother 101st stamper)

                           - Side 4: 1 G (1st Mother 1st Stamper!!)

The Audio: The audio overall grades at Very Good Plus/ Excellent Minus. There are a few limited detractions that on each disc on each side can be heard; ticks on some of the track changes and lighter ticks to the lead-in's to the audio on some of songs. Both discs play well on both sides, there are no pops, no loud ticks or constant background noise such as crackle, and there are no skips or sticks. In the main the playback is very crisp and smooth offering a raw full bass original mono sound as The Beatles intended it.

The vinyl sides 1, 2, 3 and 4 are all from the very first mono master recording.

.................................................................

This LP will be securely delivered in a professional cardboard LP mailer with cardboard stifferners. 

A plain generic inner sleeve will house the record and the original will be placed separately to prevent tears during delivery.

A protective PVC 180 gsm gatefold sleeve is included to house the LP as shown.

The LP will be delivered by special delivery in the UK.

Overseas postage will be tracked and a tracking number given.

To grade this record I am using the official grading system for collectable records from the Record Collector Magazine.

Happy to refund on return if not satisfied.