Man on Led Zeppelin IV Cover Identified 52 Years After Album’s Release

Exactly 52 years after the release of Led Zeppelin’s fourth studio album—widely referred to as Led Zeppelin IV—the identity of the man gracing its cover has been revealed, The Guardian and The New York Times report. The cover artwork famously features an elderly man hinged at the waist, weighed down by a bale of long twigs strapped to his back. Now, a research fellow in South West England named Brian Edwards has discovered that the original source of the scene: a late Victorian era photograph of a Wiltshire thatcher named Lot Long.

A visiting research fellow with the regional history center at the University of the West of England, Edwards came across the photograph while he was perusing a Victorian photo album at an auction house, per The New York Times. He instantly recognized Long as the mysterious man on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV, an album to which he’s been listening since it was released in 1971. The photograph was captured by Ernest Farmer, who is now the subject of an exhibition at the Wiltshire Museum, which includes the image of Long.

Edwards’ discovery is notable not only because it reveals the identity of the bearded thatcher, but also because, for many years, the image was widely believed to be a painting. Led Zeppelin’s record sleeve depicts a re-colored version of the image hanging in a frame on a wall, which Robert Plant and Jimmy Page found in an antique shop in the village of Pangbourne, as legend has it. The source photograph is black and white, and the colorized version has never been recovered.

Additional research into Lot Long suggests that he was born in Mere in 1823 and died in 1893, as the Wiltshire Museum point out on their website. At the time the photograph was taken, he was a widower living in a cottage in Shaftesbury Road, Mere.

The Wiltshire Museum’s upcoming exhibition of Ernest Farmer photographs will focus on other images that Edwards came across during his research, including portraits of rural workers from the period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin_IV

The original vinyl record label with the four hand-drawn symbols
After the lukewarm, if not confused and sometimes dismissive, critical reaction Led Zeppelin III had received in late 1970, Page decided that the next Led Zeppelin album would not have a title, but would instead feature four hand-drawn symbols on the inner sleeve and record label, each one chosen by the band member it represents.[5] The record company were strongly against the idea, but the group stood their ground and refused to hand over the master tapes until their decision had been agreed to.[33]

Page has also stated that the decision to release the album without any written information on the album sleeve was contrary to strong advice given to him by a press agent, who said that after a year’s absence from both records and touring, the move would be akin to “professional suicide”.[34] Page thought, “We just happened to have a lot of faith in what we were doing.”[34] He recalled the record company were insisting that a title had to be on the album, but held his ground, as he felt it would be an answer to critics who could not review one Led Zeppelin album without a point of reference to earlier ones.[35]

Releasing the album without an official title has made it difficult to consistently identify. While most commonly called Led Zeppelin IV, Atlantic Records catalogues have used the names Four Symbols and The Fourth Album. It has also been referred to as ZoSo (which Page’s symbol appears to spell), Untitled and Runes.[5] Page frequently refers to the album in interviews as “the fourth album” and “Led Zeppelin IV”,[34] and Plant thinks of it as “the fourth album, that’s it”.[36] The original LP also has no text on the front or back cover, and lacks a catalogue number on the spine.[5]

Cover

Page

Jones

Bonham

Plant
Symbols representing the band members mentioned above
In place of a title, Page decided each member could choose a personal emblem for the cover. Initially thinking of a single symbol, he then decided there could be four, with each member of the band choosing his own.[34] He designed his own symbol[5] and has never publicly disclosed any reasoning behind it. It has been argued that his symbol appeared as early as 1557 to represent Saturn.[37] The symbol is sometimes referred to as “ZoSo”, though Page has explained that it was not in fact intended to be a word at all.[5] Jones’ symbol, which he chose from Rudolf Koch’s Book of Signs, is a single circle intersecting three vesica pisces (a triquetra). It is intended to symbolise a person who possesses both confidence and competence.[5] Bonham’s symbol, the three interlocking (Borromean) rings, was picked by the drummer from the same book. It represents the triad of mother, father and child, but, also happens to be the logo for the steel and armament producer Krupp and, turned upside down, Ballantine beer.[5] Plant’s symbol of a feather within a circle was his own design, being based on the sign of the supposed Mu civilisation.[5] A fifth, smaller symbol chosen by guest vocalist Sandy Denny represents her contribution to “The Battle of Evermore”; the figure, composed of three equilateral triangles, appears on the inner sleeve of the LP, serving as an asterisk.[38]

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