A rare and exceptionally nice UK first pressing of David Bowie’s 1971 masterpiece The Man Who Sold The World with the legendary “dress cover”, on Mercury Records.  This authentic first pressing has stamped matrix numbers and textured cover, with the uncropped photograph of Bowie wearing his “man’s dress” (designed by Mr. Fish of London.)  This is the more scarce variant with Tony Visconti spelled correctly on both disc labels (a slightly earlier variant misspelled Visconti’s first name ‘Tonny’.)

We bought our first copy in 1973, and it was extremely rare then–only two years after release.   This example is easily the finest we’ve seen in the 44 years since.  The fragile cover is in Near Mint condition with only some very light wear to the bottom spine, and the faintest of wear to the edges.  The disc is in Mint/Near Mint condition, and probably has been played no more than 3-4 times.  The vinyl shows no sign of play or wear at all, other than one small, superficial (and silent scuff).  The Side 1 label has no spindle marks, while the Side 2 label has what looks like a single one.  The matrix numbers are 6338041 1Y//1^420 “1 1 4” and 6338041 2Y//1^420 “1 1 1”.  If you’ve been looking for a copy you’ll never need to upgrade, this is it.