Joy Division - CP 1919 Pulsar Illustration from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy – Source of Joy Division’s - 1973

Your opportunity to own a piece of music history!

PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a reproduction or a reprint. This is a genuine 1977 copy of the ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION that later became the artwork for Unknown Pleasures and PREDATES the release (obviously).
It was printed in the USA in 1973.

Bernard Sumner, founding member of Joy Division, lead-guitarist, keyboardist found this illustration one day at the library, showed it to the rest of the band who subsequently asked legendary designer Peter Saville (the designer working for Factory Records) to use it as the design for the cover of Unknown Pleasures in 1979.

The image is an illustration of the radio emissions given out by a pulsar which instead of being a long line is stacked so it's easier to visualize. The pulsar is called CP 1919 (Cambrige pulsar 19hr 19min) and was discovered November 1967 by student Jocelyn Bell Burnell and her supervisor Antony Hewish at Cambridge University.

"When Joy Division were looking to release their debut album with Tony Wilson’s Factory Records in the summer of 1979, they went to the label’s in-house designer Peter Saville to discuss the cover.
Saville recalled:
“[They said] we’d like it to be white on the outside and black on the inside. I took these elements away and put it together to the best of my ability. No one said what size or where – I had to figure out how.
“I contradicted the band’s instructions and made it black on the outside and white on the inside, which I felt had more presence.”

The last image is the back of the page