The First LP .... 12" Columbia ML 4001 (Label Date March 1, 1948) LP VG+ Env.VG
$
150
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Description
Here is the very first LP, the 12 inch recording of Mendelssohn's Concerto in E minor for violin and orchestra, ML 4001, recordings numbered XLP 276 and XLP 277, pressing number 1B. Columbia stamped these first 12 inch LPs with the XLP for extra long play, not knowing that the 12 inch would become the world standard for the next 70 years and beyond. According to the Columbia Records Archive, now held by the Library of Congress, this ML 4001 label was the first LP label and was ordered March 1, 1948. See the pictures for that label order from the Columbia Record Archive.
Columbia pressed 85 different LPs (ML 4001 through ML 4085) for their first LP catalog issued August 1948. They also issued 25 ten inch classics (ML-2000 series), 18 ten inch popular numbers (CL-6000 series), 4 ten inch juvenile numbers (JL-8000 series) and 2 LP sets (LaBoheme SL-1, and Hansel & Gretel SL-2) for this first catalog.
These ML 4001 pressings came in this craft paper blue and white top-open envelope for only a few weeks, then Columbia switched to a heavier cardboard side-open sleeve which came in yellow, red or green, all with the "tombstone" logo (actually a Greek column or theater proscenium after a design by Alex Steinweiss which first appeared on the cover for the 78 rpm set of this violin concerto in 1946). Finally, the last ML 4001 released came in a sleeve with a slick showing the four violin pegs.
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