The Beatles — Yesterday and Today: How to Identify a First Pressing

• Cover: The First State is the unaltered original 'butcher cover': a controversial image of the band members in white smocks surrounded by raw meat and dismembered doll parts. The record was hastily recalled after protests, and only a very small number of copies with the original, unreplaced cover reached the market.
• Cover: The Second State ('trunk cover') is the original butcher cover with a new photo (the band seated around a trunk) pasted over it, released on June 20, 1966. The way to authenticate it is to hold the right-middle portion of the cover up to a light at an angle — the outline of Ringo's black V-neck shirt from the image underneath can faintly be made out.
• Runout / matrix: Matrix etchings for the Second State (trunk cover) are Side A: T-1-2553-G-24', Side B: T-2-2553-G-18'; for the Third State (peeled), they are Side A: T-1-2553-F-21', Side B: T-2-2553-F-17'. The two states carry different matrix-suffix letters, which can be used to cross-check the cover state.
• Label: All states use the Capitol black label with a colorband (color band type-1), catalog number T-2553, pressed at the Los Angeles plant (plant code 6).

• The Third State ('peeled') is a copy where a collector later peeled the pasted-on 'trunk cover' photo off the record to reveal the original butcher image underneath; it is a collector-made alteration rather than an official factory state, and its matrix suffix (the F series) differs from the Second State (the G series).

• The three butcher-cover states: original, trunk-cover overlay, and peeled: The First State is the unaltered original butcher cover (extremely rare); the Second State has the trunk photo pasted over the butcher cover (commonly called the trunk cover, the official remedy); the Third State is a copy where a collector has peeled off the pasted photo to reveal the butcher image underneath. The three can be told apart by the sleeve's surface texture, viewing it against a light, and the matrix-etching suffix.

discogs.com returned a 403 in this research environment; the private collector site yokono.co.uk was used as the source instead. This album is a US-only Capitol compilation that was never released in the UK under this tracklist.

• Read the runout (the smooth area between the last groove and the label) with the disc tilted under a lamp: matrix numbers, stamper codes and mastering initials are the strongest evidence.
• Label details change between pressing plants and years: rim text, logo style, address, "Manufactured by" wording.
• Cover printing shows the plant and era: printer credit, catalog number position, barcode presence.
• Match all three. A first-press disc in a later cover, or the reverse, is common.

Shoot the label straight on in even light, then the runout with the disc tilted so the etched text catches the light (a phone torch from the side works). Add the front and back cover, the spine, and any inner sleeve or insert. The app reads the label and cover; the runout photo is what confirms the pressing.