A Guide to the Covers of the Album *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band*

Sgt. Pepper is the true “Mona Lisa” of album covers, an iconic illustration that is now recognized around the world. Designed by the married couple Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, it earned them a Grammy Award. Incidentally, it also became the most expensive album cover in history. Its final cost was nearly £3,000 (approx. 3,965 USD) (over £51,000 (approx. 67,407 USD) in today’s money), which was a totally extravagant sum at a time when album covers typically cost around £75 (approx. 99 USD).

Few people know that the concept for the cover originated from a sketch by Paul McCartney, who was inspired by a photo (from the 1920s) of his father’s orchestra, “Jim Mac’s Jazz Band,” surrounded by well-dressed fans. Building on this idea, Peter Blake surrounded the Beatles with a “magical crowd” of 58 stars from film (e.g., Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Tony Curtis, Shirley Temple, Marlene Dietrich), music (e.g., Bob Dylan), literature (Oscar Wilde, H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, and Dylan Thomas), the brush (Richard Lindner), religion (Sri Mahavatar Babaji), sports (Johnny Weissmuller, Sonny Liston), and science (Albert Einstein). Additionally, the album features, among others, the philosopher and founder of scientific socialism Karl Marx, as well as Carl Gustav Jung, the founder of analytical psychology. This eclectic mix was intended to reflect the diverse styles of the songs on the album, ranging from rock ’n’ roll to Indian raga.

The cover’s creators revealed in their memoirs that the musicians had their own picks for who they’d like to see in the “magic crowd,” but not every choice was accepted. “John Lennon wanted Hitler and Jesus in the crowd, Paul chose Brando and Astaire, and George asked for Maharishi,” said Jann Haworth. She added:

Hitler was John’s wrong choice. We made a figure, but we removed him just before the photo shoot. In the end, The Beatles chose only a third of the heads for the cover, so Peter and I picked the rest.

The absence of Elvis Presley from the illustration is surprising, but Paul McCartney stated in an interview that “Elvis was too important and stood out too much from the rest to even mention him.”

According to Yoko Ono’s official website, EMI primarily used two different companies to produce album covers: Ernest J. Day and Garrod & Lofthouse. In addition to the text indicating the manufacturer, the covers can also be distinguished by the thickness of the cardboard. For example, Ernest J. Day’s early covers were made of thicker material. In the case of The Beatles’ albums, Garrod & Lofthouse covers are the most common.

There are at least three different editions of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, and they differ essentially only by a single line of text on the back of the album.

The First Edition Sleeve has the following text in the lower right corner of the back cover: “Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. Patents applied for”.

In the second edition (Second Edition Sleeve), the same spot features the note: “Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. Patents pending.”, while the third (Third Edition Sleeve) has the shortest version: “Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.”

Collectors agree on one thing: each of these editions has exactly the same value, because attention is now focused on the condition of the cover, and above all on the condition and pressing of the record (which subsequent pressing) and its place of origin.

There is one more, very unique version, but it is virtually inaccessible to the average collector. The original cover of “Sgt. Pepper” was modified in 1967 to feature the faces of the executives of the American label Capitol Records on a limited-edition LP. It is believed that only 100 copies of this record were produced, and they were distributed as gifts to employees. The locations of only three copies are currently known. The value of each is estimated at 70,000 British pounds (source).

In this version, the faces of 40 people from the original design were replaced, and the Beatles do not appear on it.