Popular Culture

Popular Culture

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The Beatles

A Rare 'Yesterday And Today', First State Sealed Mono Alan Livingston Copy, 1966

Lot Closed

September 12, 01:28 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

A first state sealed Mono Butcher Cover for the ‘Yesterday and Today’ LP by The Beatles, 1966. Originally from the Alan Livingston collection.


Accompanied by a letter signed by Alan Livingston and notarised on letterheaded paper.


Dimensions

12in x 12in (30.5cm x 30.5cm)

The highly controversial ‘butcher cover,’ photographed by Robert Whitaker, features the Beatles dressed in white butcher uniforms, adorned by cuts of meat and dolls. This artwork was originally intended for the cover of Yesterday and Today but, understandably, sparked significant outrage upon its release. Capitol Records had already printed 750,000 copies of the album in the US with the ‘butcher cover,’ with 60,000 distributed to US radio stations, print media, and Capitol branch offices for promotion. The backlash led Capitol Records to recall all LPs featuring the cover, along with other promotional items displaying the ‘butcher’ imagery.


This particular copy is from the personal collection of Alan Livingston, the president of Capitol Records in 1966. At the time of the recall Alan took home a box of sealed copies, intended to be pasted over, but which ended up being stored and forgotten about. As the withdrawn covers became collectible within Beatles and record circles, the stored collection was discovered by Livingston, who passed it down his to son Peter. It has been documented that the Livingston collection consisted of four stereo and 20 mono sealed first-state copies.