DONOVAN A Gift From a Flower to a Garden RARE UK 1968 PYE COMPLETE, GREAT SOUND.

	£		80
	$		106

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (except U.S.A.) £16.50. With apology, the United States is now £20 (£3 per extra record). Postage to U.S.A. has increased since August, I was told by the Post Office due to policy their, so sorry, that is out of my control. All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business.

ANY ITEM or ITEMS TO BE PAID WITHIN A MAXIMUM OF 6 DAYS or they will be cancelled – NO EXCEPTIONS.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion, as will any bidder who cancels a bid. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: DONOVAN

Album Title: A Gift From a Flower to a Garden

Producer(s): Mickie Most

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Wear You Like Heaven; Mad John’s Escape; Skip-a-long Sam; Sun; There Was a Time.

Side 2: Oh Gosh; Little Boy in Corduroy; Under the Greenwood Tree; The Land of Doesn’t Have to Be; Someone Singing.

Side 3: Song of the Naturalists Wife; The Enchanted Gypsy; Voyage into the Golden Screen; Isle of Islay; The Mandolin Man and his Secret; Lay of the Last Tinker.

Side 4: The Tinker and the Crab; Widow with Shawl (a portrait); The lullaby of Spring; The Magpie; Starfish-on-the-Toast; Epistle to Derroll.

Label/Format: Pye with matt, smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: All four fresh, clean and attractive with only light spindle marks. This delicate double set plays superbly throughout.

Catalogue Number: NSPL 20000

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Assume all records I offer have no warping of any significance and all tracking is easy and effortless and should play on all turntables and even ‘budget’ decks.

Weight of Records: 175 / 166 grams. Heavy records, and very well pressed.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Scarcer in stereo and this includes all the original parts to make this box set complete. Condition also a major factor on this one. A predominately acoustic album, so pressing quality is even more of a factor. Both record appears little used and sound fantastic. Finding the box uncrushed, broken or badly worn is always difficult. This one is fully intact and unbroken (with no repairs), mildly aged only. This includes ALL 12 insert song sheets with the folded wallet, all in really lovely condition as seen. Evey the fragile white tracing paper lined inner sleeves are impressive. All elements are described in more detail further down.

Original Year of Release: 1968

Matrix Nos: NSPL 20000 A-1*G STEREO / NSPL 20000 B-1*G STEREO / NSPL 20000 C-1*G STEREO / NSPL 20000 D-1*G STEREO

Stamper Codes: C 1 / E 1 / D 1 / F 1 [all first mothers and very early consecutive stampers]. ‘KT’ tax codes are also present.

Musicians: Donovan Leitch – vocals, guitar, harmonica; Harold McNair – flute; Tony Carr – drums, bells, conga, Turkish and finger cymbals; Candy John Carr – bongos; Ken Baldock – string bass; Mike Carr – vibraphone; Eric Leese – electric guitar; Jack Bruce – electric bass; Cliff Barton – electric bass; Mike O’Neill – organ, piano, harpsichord.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Donovan, an artist who does not always get the full accolades his music truly deserves. His comparison to Dylan is somewhat unfair; this highly individual and gifted Scottish singer is his own man. He wrote some of the most wonderful songs of the late 1960s and his style suited the classic hippy psychedelic era perfectly. None more so than this beautiful double box set, this for me his greatest ever album with every song a gem. Gentle, haunting melodies with atmosphere and genuine beauty and sung with real passion. Beautifully packaged with sublime acid-folk songs, this is fast becoming scarce – complete copies in better conditions are elusive. Those that surface, often in very poor conditions from the harsh ‘Dansette’ era. This lavishly packaged in a two piece box with printing on all the main surfaces. No compromising on quality, even the cards themselves are printed on top quality, watermarked and textured paper. Finding the full set of 12 in close to top condition in a similar ‘wallet’ will always prove a challenge. These here are pretty much that and avoiding the folds and creases many have as they move and catch in the folder. The box has some relatively mild wear, but is still fully intact – so many now are in sorry states with broken edges, crushed and with crude repair jobs. This is fully and naturally intact and even includes the rare small original front cover sticker. Both records are lovely and appear little used. The playing surfaces are very clean and impressive with audio quality to match with little unwanted at all. A complete fine example to please many collectors.

Box (lid) Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(–): this the most vulnerable part in terms of wear as the outside edges are exposed. The box was always in two parts with no hinge. The top includes the scarce round sticker, this often removed or dried out and fallen off leaving a round residue stain, so nice just to see this intact on the top left corner area. The top surface has mild rubbing and grubbiness, but in context this is relatively light. Being a box set, these were seldom protected so few will avoid some shelf wear. the top edge has a small piece of the stick on panel clipped, this likely a small manufacture flaw. A major plus is all the edges are unbroken or crushed with minimal ‘spread’ e.g. still mostly upright and firm. All corners fully intact as well – the entire album box has NO repairs or enhancements. The green inside surface of this lid has little to fault bar the odd faint traces of toning and one or two tiny marks. It has the mono NPL 20000 catalogue number as all had, the small front sticker denotes this is a stereo version, so it is quite an important part of this stereo copy. The lid’s outside edges have a little mild patchy rubbing or chips, but overall have fared well put in context.

Box (tray) Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: again vulnerable, the underside especially. This has a stick-on graphic which is very nice with little wear, especially as most seen are badly rubbed and damaged. The main surface has a textured surface and has a small price sticker residue outline near the top left, but little else. The outer edge surfaces have minimal wear, and again, fully intact and solid, these being naturally protected by the side of the lid. Another colourful graphic is seen on the inside which lists all the songs, this has little to fault bar a small nick tear on the very top right of the paste-on panel.

The Wallet: EXCELLENT(+): a very fine example in deep orange-brown with the artists name printed on the front. Printed on fairly thick matt finished card, the inside has two folded flaps that are shaped near the centre foldline. Both are strong and neat with minimal hint of creasing. The edges are mainly crisp and sharp with just slight patchy thickening on the top pair. No tears, minimal rubbing and the white inside still clean and unaged. This fragile wallet that holds the inserts has survived the years very well.

The Inserts: EXCELLENT(+) [the first] and the others all nearer EXCELLENT(++): 12 multi-coloured inserts are named ‘the first’ to ‘the twelfth’, I have scrutinised them all and they are superb. Beautifully printed and made on high quality, coloured thick paper with a gorgeous bold watermark (seen under light). The paper also has a deep weave pattern and a textured feel to the fingers. These are pure class and superbly illustrated by Mick Taylor and Sheena McCall. Twelve inserts, twelve different colours for twelve different songs, they are copyrighted ‘Donovan (Music) Ltd’. Remaining very clean, and fresh, devoid of any marks (front or back) and unmounted (e.g. no pin-holes or tape marks). No toning, crisp edges with no hard creases at all, any handling crinkle bordering on minuscule. The corners sharp and pointed, the only minute exception is the bottom right on ‘the first’, which has a tiny ‘round’. All factory cut to the same size, these mini works of art are highly impressive and nigh-on impossible to reproduce or fake.

The Inner Sleeves: EXCELLENT(+) two white inners that have hardly aged bar some natural crinkle. The four window circles neat and all edges avoiding damage, these have the vintage semi-transparent tracing paper style linings which are immaculate. The paper clean and fresh with all edges naturally intact. These have no text.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: and arguably better. A very fine visual pair that are very clean with equally fine shine and very heavily pressed on pure, high-quality vinyl. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface marks mostly very light, wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. The odd fine superficial hairline, but no penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, hardly anything even registers. Visually super records that should please many collectors.

Album Played For Grading: Yes. [I play ALL records I offer before submitting to Ebay, also the record is played in its entirety unless clearly stated otherwise. I do NOT play snippets or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This heavyweight pair play even above their high visual gradings with hardly anything to fault. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear – sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed and this is a very clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Crucially important for the more delicate, predominately acoustic albums, these up there with the very best I have heard for this classic folk set. The lack of pops and clicks made this a very special listen, they are seldom avoided to some degree on this more delicate music. Few available copies will outperform this early first stereo pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain these have been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this beautiful album – that is something I can rarely state. It will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest records I can find. I pride myself on offering a variety of genres to keep my site as interesting as possible. I will rarely offer any record that falls below a true Excellent grading, unless its of a certain rarity which will justify offering a lesser grade. I try, to the best of my ability to describe as accurately and as honesty all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite sparingly on Ebay as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – not just bits to guess a grade – visuals alone do not always tell a true story. I will try to mention any defects or flaws no matter how small that I notice to be fair as possible to any interested collector – I am very fussy and my buyers have the right to be too. Every record I offer, whether it be a common or rare item deserves the same respect as far as I am concerned and will be treated the same – just because an item is rare does not always mean it’s good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major warps or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Deck: Linn LP12/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D7500 DSLR Camera.

PACKING – THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

What You Get: To confirm to the strict Ebay rules on shipping, I must now send ALL my packets ‘Signed-For’ with NO exceptions. Both buyers and sellers want their packets to have a safer journey and this is not a bad thing.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site as will any suspicious bids or bid bid retractions. Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal from­ winning bidders. I only accept PayPal from overseas bidders or direct payment into my bank account.

Potential Bidders: I will cancel any bids I feel are time-wasters. A maximum 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

SOME GENERAL GUIDES TO WEAR AND CONDITIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE

My Use of Description Terminology: Surface Marks = Superficial, usually light marks, hairlines or light scuffs that rarely sound. Scratch = a needle mark that goes below the record’s surface, some will sound, some will not, my play-grade will inform. Original = a record that has been pressed with the first label design which does NOT necessarily mean a very first pressed record. First Pressing = A record that I believe or know to be a genuine very first pressed record. I do not claim to always know for sure, and that’s why I state the stamper and matrix numbers if at all possible, for those who claim to know what they all mean, the information is there for the collector to decide. I prefer to use terms like ‘Early Copy’ rather than ‘First Pressing’ if I am not totally sure. Surface Sound = Mild, light sound, usually light crackle or similar. Distortion = Break up of the actual sound caused by groove wear or damage from a chipped stylus – the most undesirable form of unwanted sound, vintage mono records were the most prone to this happening but not exclusively so. The symptoms of distortion are high frequency clipping, moderate constant crackle or an echo type sound quality. Violin, piano and vocals are most prone to groove-wear distortion. Feathering = Fraying or softening of the entry edge of a cover. Covers with feathered entrance edges are more likely to have had the actual record inserted and removed more than a non-feathered, sharp-edged cover which are always far more attractive. Set Off, a printer’s term for dark ink leaving mild residue on pale or white ink when rested upon. e.g. when a gatefold cover has black ink closed against white, this can leave some black residue on the pale area – this is mostly unavoidable or course.