In the US, Capitol Records printed around 750,000 copies of Yesterday and Today with the so-called 'butcher cover'. Reaction was swift as Capitol records received hundreds of complaints.
The record was immediately recalled under orders from the chairman of Capitol's parent company, EMI. All copies were shipped back to the record label. The cover was replaced with a picture of the band members posed around an open suitcase with John Lennon saying it was "an awful photo of us looking just as deadbeat but supposed to be a happy-go-lucky foursome".
The total cost to Capitol of replacing the cover and promotional material was close to a quarter of a million dollars ... a lot of money back then.
The most valuable 'butcher's covers' are those that have never been opened and remain sealed in their original shrink-wrap.
An extremely rare original stereo copy was presented in 2003 on the American version of Antique Roadshow. It was still in the possession of its original owner, who had bought it at Sears & Roebuck department store on the day of its release in 1966 — the only day that the 'butcher's cover' went on sale before being recalled.
The Antique Roadshow appraiser valued it at between $10,000 and $12,000 (US dollars).
In 2016, a mint condition copy, still in its shrink wrap, sold for just over NZ$190,000.
I'm off to search through my Beatles album collection.