The Hazards of Love EP - Anne Briggs - Topic Label - Top 94 - 1st Pressing - EX

	£		50
	$		66

The Hazards of Love: Anne Briggs Sings Four Traditional English Songs 1st Pressing

7" EP

Topic Label, Cat. No. Top 94

Extremely rare folk EP in extraordinary condition released in 1963 on the renowned Topic folk label.  It comes in a front-laminated flip-back cover with the record still housed in the original white paper die-cut inner.  It also comes with the original paper insert in which A.L. Lloyd writes about the four songs on the EP. This is the 1st pressing of this record and NOT the recent re-issue.

Please Note: I visually and carefully examine all my records under a strong 35w halogen lamp, which shows up ALL marks that need to be seen and is far superior to any other light source for examining vinyl.  Please try one of these lamps out (they can be bought from Ikea for about £25) and you will be amazed.  Records inspected under 'normal' lighting will not show up nearly as many marks as a halogen lamp, and sometimes none at all!

Vinyl Condition

It is possible to see some very small and faint marks but you have to look very carefully under the lamp to see these.  These are NOT scratches in any sense.  There are also some very faint marks in the dead-wax run-in where the record has probably been 'pinched' out of the sleeve.  It is graded as EXCELLENT because of these marks, although I am absolutely sure that others would not hesitate to grade it as Near Mint.

Otherwise, the record has a glorious gloss to the extent that it is tempting to suggest that it has never been played or has had one or two plays at most.  What seems to be a scratch in one of the photos is, in fact, a piece of 'swarf' still attached to the rim of the record, further testifying to the fantastic condition of this record.

Labels

The labels are clean and unmarked with no spindle marks which, again, suggests that it has either never been played or had limited plays.

Sleeve

The sleeve has some slight 'fraying' at the opening, a small tear to the top flip-back, some slight 'ringwear' on the front and back, and some discolouration in the unlaminated area on the back.  The cover has to be graded as FAIR because of the tear on the flipback but is otherwise in at least VG condition.  The record also comes in the original white paper inner, which just has some creasing.

Insert

This has some very minor, barely detectable, creasing but is otherwise clean, unmarked and undamaged.

Overall Grading (Record / Cover - Please refer to the Grading Guide below)

Excellent / Fair

Grading Guide - Important!

I visually examine all records under a strong 35w halogen lamp, which shows up ALL defects.  A lot of other sellers do not do this and, as a consequence, records graded under other sub-standard lighting, including normal room lights, will appear in far better condition than they really are.  Some even appear unmarked when, in reality, they are scratched.  I grade my records according to the Rare Record Price Guide (with the addition of the Near Mint grade), which means to me, briefly, as follows:??

Mint - Must be sealed or I must have evidence that it has never been played.

Near Mint - Totally unmarked, no scratches, not even faint 'hairlines' / sleeve withdrawal marks.?

Excellent - No scratches, just the odd faint 'hairline' or sleeve withdrawal mark that is barely visible under a strong lamp.

Very Good - The first mild scratches have begun to appear, but only very, very few.? You will not hear any 'pops' or 'clicks' and, at worst, a quiet background crackle.

Good - More scratches than Very Good and more severe, but I am confident that the record will play through with no problems and will still provide a good listening experience.

Fair - The record may not play through properly with a chance of it jumping, or it will play with significant background noise.

Poor - It definitely won't play without skipping or sticking.

Below Excellent I will use plus or minus with a grade to highlight fine differences.??

I also sometimes play-grade records and the final grade is a combination of how it plays and looks.

My cover grades are exactly as stated in the Record Collector magazine / Rare Record Price Guide as follows:

Mint: The cover and any extra items are in perfect condition

Excellent: The cover and packaging might have slight wear and/or creasing

Very Good: Normal wear and tear on the cover is acceptable

Good: The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration etc.

Fair: The cover and contents will be torn, stained and/or defaced.

A NOTE ABOUT COVER GRADES!  Please do look at a seller's photos of covers and compare with the grade they have given the cover.  Poor grading of covers are often indicative of poor grading of the vinyl.  If the cover is torn or has been written on (ie. 'defaced') then it cannot grade better than Fair.  This is quite clear in the RC/RRPG descriptions.  Please beware of this because I have lost count of the number of sellers grading defaced covers as 'Excellent'!

All vinyl is dispatched using stiffeners and card mailers.

IMPORTANT - Please wait for an invoice before paying.  The postage costs given here are only an estimate - postage costs could vary according to where you live and I do not want to overcharge you.  I also want to ensure that the postage service matches your requirements.  If you have a preference for a particular Royal Mail postage service, such as tracked & signed, please let me know as soon as possible otherwise I will choose a service based on your location and item value.  As a rough guide, standard signed-for postage will be as follows:

UK - £7.49; Europe - £10; Rest of the World - £12

About the seller (Oxfam):

Oxfam GB is a development, relief, and campaigning organisation dedicated to finding lasting solutions to poverty and suffering around the world. There are more than 650 shops in the UK. More information at www.oxfam.org.uk

These records are being sold by Oxfam Books & Music in the beautiful market town of Olney, Bucks, UK - home of Amazing Grace.  We always have on display about 2,000 vinyl records of all genres and on all formats, and over 500 CDs.  We add more to our displays almost daily.  We also have a large stock of sheet music and we also stock music books, 78s, music DVDs, and music cassettes. We consider ourselves to be one of the best charity shops around for music and vinyl anywhere in the country.

I have been selling vinyl for Oxfam for over 5 years on an almost daily basis, having valued tens of thousands of records in that time and sold nearly as many.