Description
Original NEW ORDER, BLUE MONDAY 12" IN PIC SLEEVE, FACTORY RECORDS, FAC73, Sleeve Good / Record Mint.
First 1983 pressing. First pressing: 60.000 copies (30.000 pre-sales). Initial A1/B1 pressings are characterised by a heavy and opaque vinyl. Runout space is 0,35 inches. The first edition thick silver inner sleeve has straight top corners.
There are three UK 12" sleeves: The original first edition has a die-cut sleeve with cut-outs and a silver inner sleeve,with straight inner edges which this is.
Later editions and re-pressings have die-cut sleeves or plain black sleeves with just the colour coding. The black inner sleeves are either thick glossy black carton or thin black paper. This copy is the first edition and owned from new since 1983 and is within the first 60.000 copies.
The coloured strip is not random - it spells out the Catalog#, band name and both song titles.
The inner jacket is a matte black vinyl (other countries had a silver jacket) that pokes through the slots in the sleeve to genuinely resemble a massive floppy (probably holds at least 150K). The record's comparative rarity might be the rumored expense of the packaging, so much so that that Factory Records lost money on every purchase. The record was quickly reissued with a more standard sleeve, so having one of these rare versions is the key.