RecordScoutGet the app

Talking Book vinyl value

Talking Book — Stevie Wonder album cover
Prices for this album are still being collected: our eBay tracker quotes a pressing only after at least three live listings match it. The pressings and identification below are complete.

Stevie Wonder — Talking Book: pressings we track

PressingCatalogCountryNotes
1984 Tamla MotownZL72011ItalyPromo, Reissue, Gatefold
1984 Tamla MotownZL72011UK & EuropeReissue, Gatefold
1986 MotownRMTL-8018JapanPromo, Reissue, Gatefold
1988 TamlaZL 72011GermanyLimited Edition, Numbered, Reissue
2008 Vinyl Lovers900396EuropeReissue, Remastered, Gatefold
2011 Mobile Fidelity Sound LabMOFI 1-009USLimited Edition, Numbered, Reissue
2016 Tamla06025 570 975-6EuropeReissue, 180 gram, Gatefold, Braille
2016 TamlaB0025529-01USReissue, Gatefold, Braille
Undated Tamla MotownZL72011UK & EuropeReissue, Gatefold
Undated TamlaMOT-319R1USReissue

11 pressings tracked, 10 shown · catalog of 974,753 releases, August 2026

What separates the pressings

Oldest we track, 1984First released 1972; our table starts at 1984 (Tamla Motown, UK & Europe). A copy older than 1984 predates everything here. Treat it as the find.
Collector variants1984 Italy: Promo, Reissue, Gatefold; 1988 Germany: Limited Edition, Numbered, Reissue. Scarce on purpose; collectors pay for that.
JapanPressed to high standards and collected separately; a copy with the original obi strip is a different record to collectors than one without.
Reissues, 2008+3 pressings. Easy to find, priced as listening copies.

How to identify your copy

Three checks, in the order worth doing them.

  1. 1

    Match the catalog number. It is printed on the spine and the record label. Check it together with the country against the pressings table above: the same number can appear in more than one country.

  2. 2

    Read the runout. The code etched in the dead wax near the label names the exact pressing. On the 1984 UK & Europe pressing it reads “DM E - 0637 A -1 / 84S II Ⅱ[etched]” on side one and “DM E - 0637 B -1 / 84S II Ⅱ[etched]” on side two. Trust the etching over the jacket: covers get traded around, dead wax stays put.

  3. 3

    Grade the condition. A clean copy and a worn one of the same pressing sit several grades, and several multiples, apart. Grade record and sleeve separately; see our grading guide.

Do not price the cover. A later disc in a 1972 jacket is a reissue, whatever the sleeve says: the pressing lives in the runout etching and on the label.

Questions

Which pressing of Talking Book is worth the most?

Original 1972 pressings lead; they predate everything in our table, and that scarcity is the point. Among tracked copies, the 1984 pressings come first. Scarcer variants (the 1984 “Promo, Reissue, Gatefold” and the 1988 “Limited Edition, Numbered, Reissue”) can beat an ordinary early copy. After that it is all condition: the gap between near mint and VG is usually larger than the gap between pressings.

How do I tell which pressing I have?

Match the catalog number on the spine and label against the table above, check the country, then read the etched code in the runout groove. On the 1984 UK & Europe pressing the runout reads “DM E - 0637 A -1 / 84S II Ⅱ[etched]”. A period jacket with a later disc inside is still a reissue.

How much is Talking Book worth today?

Market prices move, so a static number goes stale fast. Scan the record in the RecordScout app: it identifies your exact pressing from the label and shows a current value range for its condition.

Not sure which pressing you have? Photograph the label and RecordScout names it, then shows a current value range for its condition.

Open in the App StoreFree to try, iPhone, no account.
More from Stevie Wonder