Joy Division - An Ideal For Living - 7 EP - Enigma PSS 139 UK 1978 Original
Extremely rare ORIGINAL 1978 UK 7 release on Enigma. Only 1,000 copies of this legendary EP were produced and it is considered a Holy Grail item for many Joy Division collectors. This copy is in beautiful condition and is NOT a reissue. This auction is purposely timed in the month of May in memory of Ian Curtis s 36th Anniversary of his untimely death.
This was Joy Division s first release in 1978 after changing their name from Warsaw. Adding to the desirability of this record is the fact that the band actually folded the 14 x 14 poster sleeves themselves, so it is entirely possible that Ian Curtis actually handled this record. This is documented by Ian s wife, Deborah Curtis, in her book Touching From a Distance :
An Ideal for Living turned out to be very much an in-house project: Bernard designed the sleeve and Steve arranged the printing in Macclesfield. The sleeve was in fact a poster which, when folded into four, was just large enough to slide a seven-inch pressing between the pages. The poster itself depicted a member of the Hitler Youth Movement banging a drum, a German soldier pointing a gun at a small boy with his arms raised, and two photographs of the band members.
We all met at Steve s parents house to fold the posters and used plastic sandwich bags to stop the records falling out.
From Touching From a Distance By Deborah Curtis Copyright, Faber Faber
I am not a professional record seller, so I am going to refrain from using the standard grading terminology and just describe what I see/hear. This item, as well as the other Joy Division items I currently have listed, are from the collection of a hardcore audiophile and Joy Division collector who passed away in 2002. Prior to this auction, these records had not been touched or played in 14 years.
Both sides were tested on the following stereo equipment:
Pioneer A-91D amplifier
Rega Planar 2 turntable with Grado cartridge and stylus
Definitive Technology BP-8 speakers.
Condition
Cover: See photos for the condition of the cover. The sleeve folds out into a single sided 14 poster. The overall condition is very nice with one small, barely noticeable discoloration. There are no tears or stains, but there is some minor wear from handling. It s in remarkable condition considering its age.
Vinyl: Visually, the only marks are a minor bit of paper scuffing on side two. I read that this appears to be common among the copies of this record that have surfaced, so it may be something that happened during the manufacturing process. There are some spindle marks please see photos . Otherwise, this is a beautiful piece of historic vinyl. On playback, I heard only minor clicks. No warp and no skips.
Identifiers
The matte black label has silver lettering with the catalog number PSS 139 and the vinyl edge around the label is serrated.
Matrix/Runout Side A : PSS-139-EP-A-1 EG
Matrix/Runout Side B : PSS-139-EP-B-1 EG
Tracklist
A1 Warsaw
A2 No Love Lost
B1 Leaders Of Men
B2 Failures on the label this is listed as Failures Of The Modern Man
Please bid with confidence. I ve been a trusted eBay member since Nov. 1998 with 100 positive feedback. Questions? Please contact me.
Thanks for looking and happy bidding
