John Lennon’s copy of Yesterday And Today by the Beatles goes to auction

By Scott Munro
( Classic Rock )
published

John Lennon’s personal copy of Yesterday And Today by the Beatles featuring the controversial ’Butcher Cover’ goes under the hammer

Lennon's Yesterday And Today cover
Lennon's Yesterday And Today cover (Image credit: Heritage Auctions)

John Lennon’s personal copy of Yesterday And Today by the Beatles, featuring the controversial ‘Butcher Cover’ will go to auction next month.

The 1966 record was initially only launched in the US and Canada and arrived in Japan in the 70s – but it took until 2014 for the album to be released in the UK on CD.

Lennon’s prototype version will be one of the items for sale at Heritage Auctions on November 11, with the album given to Beatles fan and collector Dave Morrell, who was in a studio showing Lennon some of his memorabilia and bootleg material in 1971.

Lennon traded the album for a reel-to-reel tape of the Beatles tribute supergroup Yellow Matter Custard and filled the blank back cover with an original piece of art in black ink. It depicts a man with a shovel and his dog, both posed in front of a setting sun.

The album also features Lennon’s signature along with those of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Bids are currently being accepted for the unique piece of Beatles’ memorabilia and it’s expected to sell for more than $200,000.

See images of the front and back covers below.

John Lennon's ranting letter to McCartney sells for $30,000

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.