First Pressing of records

[wosmacker]

How do you tell if a record is the first press?

[Oppala]

This really depends on many factors - whether 7,10 or 12inch, the label, the publishers, the pressing company, the cover, any inserts and others.

As a vague start, this will determine if you want to take it further, look at the run-out area of the record, the seemingly blank area between the track and the label, there will be a number imprinted, if it ends with anything that looks vaguely like -1 or -1a or -a1 or similar, this may indicate something worth follow-up.

Best thing is to take it to a local 2nd-hand record shop for an opinion.