‘Led Zeppelin IV’ Cover Figure Finally Identified
Led Zeppelin IV celebrates its 52nd anniversary today (Nov. 8). How appropriate that there’s some significant Zeppelin news about the mysterious man on the cover of the iconic LP? Or, shall we say, mysterious no more.
Multiple outlets — including The New York Times and BBC News — report a researcher came across the original photo of the man carrying a large amount of sticks on his back.
Brian Edwards from the University of the West of England (UWE) is the researcher in question. He said he was looking through a photo album for another project. When he saw the photo, he instantly recognized it.
So, who is the mystery man on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV? Edwards determined the man to be Lot Long, a 69-year-old from Wiltshire, England, who made thatched roofs. The photo, itself, was taken during the 1890s. Edwards then determined from an inscription on the album’s first page the photographer of the iconic photo was Ernest Howard Farmer.
RELATED: Robert Plant: How He Relates to the Man on the Cover of 'Led Zeppelin IV'
This leads to an obvious question: How did Led Zeppelin even find this Victorian-era photo? The story has always been that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page found a colorized version of the photo in an antique shop in a small village west of London.
So, how did a colorized photo of Lot Long carrying sticks end up in an antique shop? Edwards noted that Farmer, the photographer, was also a teacher. He believes it’s possible Edwards used the photo with his students to teach them colonizing techniques. Of course, this is only a theory.
As for the original photo of Lot Long, it will be on display in the Wiltshire Museum. Additionally, other photos taken by Farmer from the aforementioned album will be on display, too. The Wiltshire Museum states on their website, “Through the exhibition, we will show how Farmer captured the spirit of people, villages and landscapes of Wiltshire and Dorset that were so much of a contrast to his life in London. It is fascinating to see how this theme of rural and urban contrasts was developed by Led Zeppelin and became the focus for this iconic album cover 70 years later.”
