Sold Date: May 5, 2017
Start Date: April 5, 2017
Final Price: $30.00 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 2648
Buyer Feedback: 58

   For sale is Stevie Wonder's Talking Book, originally released in 1972 by Tamla Records, a subsidiary of Motown Records, with a gate-fold presentation. This is the first record album that used Braille on the front cover and inside the gate-fold. Translated it says "Stevie Wonder Talking Book"  "Here Is my music. It is all I have to tell you how I feel. Know that your love keeps my love strong--Stevie". In the dead wax between the labels and the last tracks is etched a "M.B.G.", followed by the matrix numbers C-2/D-2, indicating that the record was mastered by George Marino, then an early stamper was used to make this first edition. It was noted that he put his initials backward. These are hallmarks of state-of-the-art engineering, sought after by collectors and music lovers for their superior sound qualities. I bought this record new, professionally cleaned it on my VPI HW-17 machine and immediately put it into a MFSL archival inner sleeve. This protects the integrity of the vinyl and any original inner sleeve(s) or insert(s) that may have come with the release. There is no original inner sleeve with this listing. The cover is graded as VG because of some corner blunts, edge rubs, ring wear and a 2" tear in the middle of the back cover that contained the record. The seam is still intact, but has paper loss from edge rubs. The spine has some corner color loss. The vinyl is visually graded as Near Mint Minus because of a couple of faint sleeve marks. This the still one of the best copies of this album that I have ever seen and you would be hard pressed to find one in this condition, being that it has become so scarce. I have a lot more Motown records, as well as albums of all different genres, listed in my Ebay store. Please take a look. They're predominately Near Mint. Thank you for viewing my listing.    I've been collecting records for about 50 years now and have always cleaned them and put them away carefully in plastic inner sleeves. Over the years I've used Dust Bugs, Disc Washers and have finally invested in a professional VPI record cleaning machine. Now that I'm retiring, I'm selling my very esoteric collection. I'm not a professional grader of records, but will use record guides, as well as my personal experiences as a basis of my grading all records. Since grading is subjective, I will be conservative. I offer discounts for multiple sales. Photos are of the actual item for sale, not a stock photo. Please review all descriptions and photos because I do not accept returns. Thank you for looking!