Philips World Series logo

Published February 26, 2023

Piano Trios Complete, Philips PHC 2-013, 1968

In the mid 1960s, Philips Records started a new label dedicated to classical music from around the world and named it World Series. The logo has a pictorial part with a charming illustration of a round bearded face shown (mirrored?) inside an old-fashioned globe, framed by a box with rounded corners. It’s enclosed by the two words of the name set in caps from Binner. On the record covers, the words sit to the left and right. On the record labels, they are placed above and below the image. This post assembles details from a number of album covers, depicting the characteristic color palette.

The dates on Discogs range from 1964* to 1973 (with many records being undated), but they have to be taken with a grain of salt. The World Series isn’t mentioned in the Philips LP catalog from 1964 or their Complete Record Catalog from August 1965. I reckon that the series was started in late 1965 or 1966. In a catalog from February 1968, it is described as “a special series of recordings from the PHILIPS international catalog dedicated to the finest quality product at a popular price”.
*) The record dated to 1964 is mentioned in a Billboard issue from February 1967.

I haven’t been able to find out the designer. The illustration style suggests John Alcorn to me. Alcorn did use Binner on various other occasions.