Vinyl Nostalgia 
Since my collection of Beatles vinyls has just been expanded with the first, original 1963 pressing of *With The Beatles*, I’m including a brief guide for beginner collectors here that will help them spot the real thing in just two minutes—one of the rarest releases you can come across.
The album “With The Beatles” was released on November 22, 1963, and its original edition contains two significant errors on the label and one on the cover; however, in this case, you should rely more on a visual inspection of the label and the matrix code on the edge of the record, because, as we know, the cover can be swapped out. After all, we’re talking about a record from nearly 60 years ago!
First and foremost, we check the matrix codes, which should look like this:
Side 1: XEX 447-1N
Side 2: XEX 448-1N
Next, we look at the label on the other side of the record, where there is an error in the title of the second track. It says “YOU REALLY GOTTA HOLD ON ME,” but it should be “YOU REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME.” This error appears exclusively on the labels of the first pressing.
Additionally, the second side of the final track, „Money,” also had an incorrect publishing rights listed. It reads „Jobete Mus. NCB,” but should read „Dominion, Belinda (Ldn.) Ltd.” This was also corrected in the second and subsequent pressings of this album.
For your convenience, it’s worth knowing that the second pressing of „With The Beatles” has exactly the same master numbers as the first pressing, so it can only be identified by the absence of both errors on the label. From the third pressing onward, the master codes will reflect the pressing order, e.g., XEX 447-3N, XEX 447-4N, XEX 447-5N, etc.
