Led Zeppelin IV Original Cover Photo Discovered In Unexpected Find
Just when you think you know everything there is to know about a band, something new is uncovered. That’s exactly what happened when the cover for Led Zeppelin’s iconic fourth studio album was found to be a sepia-toned photograph from the Victorian era rather than a painting as many people had previously assumed. The New York Times reported that researcher Brian Edwards, 52 years after the album’s release, made the discovery while searching the Internet for interesting things to research at auction houses.
Lot Long
The cover of the Led Zeppelin album, widely referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, depicts an older man carrying a thatch load of sticks on his back. The man immortalized on the cover was found to be Lot Long, a thatcher who worked in the rural county of Wiltshire in southwestern England. Long was 69 years old at the time the photo was taken. You can see the original photo above, courtesy of the Wiltshire Museum.
The Discovery Was Made By Accident
Edwards had quite an interesting journey in uncovering the mystery behind this Led Zeppelin cover, as he wasn’t even searching for the answers. He was looking through a Victorian photo album filled with landscapes for his research and noticed the photo looked familiar. Edwards said in an interview, “There was something familiar about it straight away,” adding that he had to call his wife for a “sanity check,” to confirm his suspicions.
It’s lucky that Edwards happened to be a Led Zeppelin fan, or this discovery may have gone completely unnoticed. After confirming his discovery, Edwards contacted the Wiltshire Museum, where he had previously curated an exhibit in 2021. The museum then snapped the photo album up at auction for £420.
How Did Led Zeppelin Find The Photo?
However, Edwards wasn’t done diving into the mysteries of the Led Zeppelin album cover yet, as he embarked on a quest to discover who took the photo. The album was inscribed with the words “Reminiscences of a visit to Shaftesbury” and “a present to Auntie from Ernest,” which led him to discover that the photographer responsible was Ernest Howard Farmer. However, the question remains how Zeppelin settled on the photo to be the cover of their album.
The Photo Might Have Been Discovered Inside Of An Antique Shop
According to legend, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page happened upon a colorized version of the photograph in an antique shop in Pangbourne, roughly 50 miles west of London. Edwards theorized that since Ernest Howard Farmer was also a teacher, it’s possible that he used his photograph to show his students how to colorize their photos. Naturally, one of these colorized versions could have ended up in an antique shop where Robert Plant and Jimmy Page happened to be browsing.
The Led Zeppelin Album Art Is On Display At The Wiltshire Museum
The photo album containing the Led Zeppelin-related picture has approximately 100 images that showcase architectural views, streets, and some portraits of works like Lot Long. The Wiltshire Museum will be displaying these unique pieces of history, showcasing the spirit of the people at the time and the quality of Victorian-era photography. It should be quite an interesting museum exhibit overall, especially for Zeppelin fans who want to further deepen their knowledge about Zeppelin lore.
