Ralph Steadman's Correspondence with Grahame White

Ralph Steadman's position as one of the finest of all British caricaturists and cartoonists is assured. While he is best known for his collaborations with Hunter S. Thompson, Steadman's savage satirical studies in Private Eye and his humorous cartoons in Punch are equally memorable. His more recent work, such as the books I Leonardo and The Big I Am, and his explorations in fields as diverse as opera and film, indicate a restless ambition, and a range of imaginative power extending beyond the merely comic.The present collection of over 170 items of Steadman material was amassed by the art historian and collector Grahame White (1956-2006), and provides an extraordinary insight into the thought processes and artistic practice of this notable artist. At its core is the series of 38 letters and cards addressed by Steadman to White (comprising 12 TLsS, 3 ALsS, 23 ACsS, with the majority in the original envelopes), written in an intimate, informative and highly-entertaining style, with three items including original drawings by Steadman (Items A7, A24 and A33 below). Also present is White's side of the correspondence: 59 probing and incisive letters, which, together with the eight examples of his writing about Steadman, provide an invigorating postmodern analysis of the artist's achievement, with White constantly challenging Steadman to respond to his interpretation of his work. White's letters reveal him to be an intelligent and sensitive figure, and his unconventional and imaginative approach makes for a correspondence of the highest standard. A tortured individual, White suffers a series of misfortunes, and Steadman's concerned and kindly response gives a narrative drive to the account of the two men's growing friendship. Also present are 59 items of Steadman ephemera, dating from between 1973 and 1999, including photographs taken by Steadman of his work for White, presentation copies, theatre programmes, exhibition fliers, magazines, catalogues, advertisements, a bookmark, and a series of pictures by White of a 'Kissogram Girl' at Steadman's 1986 birthday party.In his very first letter, written following serious illness, Steadman writes that he is 'now beginning a new life. Reborn!' Such energy and enthusiasm recur repeatedly: 'I hate the whole English disease of indifference. Now, in America they say Yeah! Let's try it!!' From the start he is wary of White's over-intellectualising: 'I dont know how you do it! The books aren't that good, surely.' His frustration grows as the correspondence proceeds: 'I have looked in the dictionary for RHYPARAGRAPHICS, ONIERIC and REIFED and can find none of these words, which makes it difficult at times to understand what you are saying.' Elsewhere he discerns ' a recurring madness in [White's] endeavours'. Having teased White over his benefit claims ('As a lifelong dole of my own choosing I get the same - every Monday morning'), Steadman is delighted to learn that he has ' secured a position at the one university where I was artist in residence in the 60s', and is 'flattered that [White] should want to do an MA dissertation on my work. Wow !' He constantly offers White advice and assistance, but he is, as he informs him, 'neither an employment agency or a fairy godmother, but merely the Illustrator whom you chose to aim your considerable critical faculties towards'. He quickly concludes that White is his own worst enemy: 'You obviously cannot go on persistently descending Dante's seven circles to Purgatory as though there is no other course.[...] You have a brilliant mind. What is it that you do that exacerbates yours or any body else's attempts to pull you out of a spin? Are you perhaps a pathological social outcast, determined to prove that everyone but you is the enemy?' He is nevertheless constantly impressed with White's powers: 'Does nothing escape you? Even the time in my life that passes in secret is visible to you.' Elsewhere he states: 'I believe, that you with your feverish brain, could find something interesting to say about a garden pea or even er - a parking meter coin slot.' In the final year of the correspondence he declares himself 'overwhelmed by your strange, informed, incisive, comprehensive, extraordinary reflections and serious opinions about my work.'Steadman is candid regarding his own creative process: 'I need cross fertilisation to spark and then I move along on 'free association'. It practically gives me a purpose to draw at all. Without that kind of motivation I find it hard to operate. I must get through the "lazy" barrier and I'm away. I am sure I am not alone in this procedure. Writers must go through certain rituals to weird their creative juices.' His urges White to be instinctual: 'Try hard not to keep analysing yourself. It's a desperate practice and only leads to self-flagellation. Simply be creative if you feel the need to do something. Don't question where it came from.'Steadman's liberal sympathies are apparent throughout. In 1994 he writes: '10 years ago we were wondering if George Orwell would be anywhere near the truth. At the time I thought he was miles off and now I realise that the surveillance was so clever I didn't realise I was being watched and the level of Newspeak was so intense I had gone deaf.' On another occasion he is concerned at 'winning prizes like some lucky beginner', these being 'the badges of mediocrity', but he concludes that he cannot be an 'establishment figure', as his 'catharsis was struck in 1970' when he met Hunter S Thompson. 'I would never be the same again. Nothing was that serious anymore. They cannot touch me now.' Another American writer discussed in the correspondence is William S. Burroughs, with whom White has corresponded, and whose candour Steadman praises as 'a kindness to help you not to make a fool of yourself by saying something unnecessary. I enjoyed our meetings a lot. [...] Maybe at last he became Joe the Dead & reached The Western Lands. As Hunter once said - maybe the ones who ever really reach the edge, are the ones who go over it'.White's side of the correspondence has definite intrinsic merit. His style veers from abstruse discussions of his thesis on Steadman titled R.S. Rhyparagraphos, with authoritative pronouncements on Bataille, Artaud, Blake and Joyce, to curiously crude self-justification: 'I never proffer bullshit to anyone. I never bloat myself full of my own gaseous self-promotion. When I mentioned to you that actually meeting you meant quite a lot to me, I sincerely meant it. I did not merely spout it out as the closest crap which came into my Thatcherized-benumbed skull.' There is a definite undertone of aggression and paranoia; of the guests at one of Steadman's private views he writes: 'And what do these crass fuckers do when they get there? They kow-tow. They buy nowt. They swoon and get pissed as arseholes.' But as the following example shows, the overriding impression left by White's writing is one of deep intellectual engagement: 'The other point which particularly struck me, was the mention of the name of William Burroughs linked to your own. / For years I have been a great admirer of Burroughs' work, and I have written about him, and occasionally to him, and he has been kind enough to respond with generosity. / For both of you, the humorous, the horrific, and the human seem to form a sort of interdefining triangle. In fact, when I was writi[n]g about William Burroughs, I found myself using some of the same - or similar - lines of argument which I had applied to your work; the picaresque; the scatalogical; the wilful shredding of accepted technical "finesse"/polish, and, instead, the striving for experimental incompletion'.The collection is in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. In the following description it is divided into five sections:A. Steadman to White (38 items)B. White to Steadman (59 items)C. Miscellaneous Correspondence (7 items)D. White on Steadman (8 items)E. Steadman Ephemera (59 items)A. Steadman to WhiteA1. [March 1985.] With Steadman's stamp of Old Loose Court, Loose Valley, Maidstone, Kent. ACS ('Ralph Steadman'). (Image: 'Howzat!') Addressed to 'Dear Mr White'. He is sorry that GW lost his Still Life with Raspberry: 'Almost unobtainable now.' 'I have been in hospital & I am now beginning a new life. Reborn!' He teases GW: 'What on earth have you written. I will sue!!' His Treasure Island is coming out in October, and his 'Alice Books' are being republished by Jonathan Cape. GW replies on 29 March 1985 (Item B1 below).A2. [April 1985.] AC (unsigned, with incomplete message, lacking the card or cards carrying the rest). (Image: 'Pier Git'.) Addressed to 'Dear Graham [sic] White'. 'Its a very glowing piece. Thank you very much. I must now read Georges Bataille. It may help me with my book on God. Its all a ploy to educate myself & get paid whilst I do it! | Treasure Island coming in the Autumn - Alice postponed until 1986.' GW replies on 15 April 1985 (Item B2 below).A3. [3 May 1985, Maidstone, postmark.] ACS ('Ralph Steadman'). (Image: 'Hobbs and Sutcliffe'.) He thanks GW for his 'Leonardo piece à la Bunuel': 'I always feel uneasy when I read dialogue from the mouths of such people at such a time sounding more like the gutteral outpourings of a Chelsea supporter - the frothing gibberish of "crowdspeak". It never seems real - but maybe it was like that.' Asks whether he would like him to show Stone his copy of GW's essay.A4. [23 May 1985, Maidstone, postmark.] Signed Autograph message on two cards. (Images: 'Reagan's Close Up' and 'O.K. Freeze'.) With envelope. 'Whatever next? You dont stop. I was very amused by your mouse analysis and pretty accurate too. [...] The basic story needed another dimension. As with Quasimodo. I need cross fertilisation to spark and then I move along on 'free association'. It practically gives me a purpose to draw at all. Without that kind of motivation I find it hard to operate. I must get through the "lazy" barrier and I'm away. I am sure I am not alone in this procedure. Writers must go through certain rituals to weird their creative juices.'A5. [5 September 1985, Maidstone, postmark.] ACS ('Ralph Steadman'). (Image of drawing of contact sheet of portraits of the queen.) 'I dont know how you do it! The books aren't that good, surely. Anyway, it really amuses Bernard to take things he does so seriously.' He hopes to see GW at the Treasure Island signing.A6. 25 March 1986. Photocopy of autograph message by RS to GW, on the back of four postcards. With the original envelope, postmarked 27 March 1986, Maidstone. 'Whatever next? You could read things into the Dead Sea Scrolls if given half a chance. / I was so amused [by Item D5 below, 'Seeing Stars'] partly because of the seriousness with which you treat my attempts at various subjects and partly because there is a recurring madness in your endeavours that no Thatcher legislation can quash. Good for you. / Sorry you had to walk home to Truro'. A7. [6 May 1986, Maidstone, postmark.] ALS. 1p., 8vo. Original drawing by RS of vulture thinking 'Huh! No book!!!' at head of letter. 'No vulture book sadly. / I was discouraged by all who learned of my intentions, that I shelved it & I fear it is but a memory. The drawings that exist - some appeared in "Between the Eyes". / I am sure it would have been of great interest. Who knows - I may yet pick it up again.' AN on envelope: 'I am trying to compose a lecture on the origin of Welsh Humour (Any ideas?)'A8. 13 June 1986. Loose Valley stamp. ACS ('Ralph Steadman'). (Image: 'Drawing from the "Poor Mouth" by Flann O'Brien'.) 'I am off to Aspen tomorrow, rather nervous, with my tome on Welsh & Welshness - a Welshness monster, perhaps! I can only read it with great expression & hope that the Yanks have got a sense of fun - the rest of the programme sounds rather serious.'A9. 26 January 1987. Loose Valley stamp. ALS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 2pp., 8vo. With envelope. 'Many thanks for yet another indication of what people get up to on the dole. It certainly makes the brain fertile - or fevered and even frantic. As a lifelong dole of my own choosing I get the same - every Monday morning [...] However the Securicor man just arrived with another consignment of Gold bullion which I melt down & cast new nibs, which made me think that perhaps there's a job for a bloke with a brain like yours. One of those hard hats they wear could stop the brain thinking and that would at least relieve the pain. / The lady at the Cartoon Centre is Liz Ottaway [...] If you want a reference, I'll give you a fierce one. There are about 350 New Statesman cartoons in their collections from me - they owe me something. About £350,000 actually! Then there's Leonardo & Freud and Treasure Island, they owe me a fortune - I could be rich. That may help if I bring pressure to bear. O.K. that's a good start for a Monday morning. Back to bed.'A10. 29 June 1987. Loose Valley stamp. TLS. 1p., 8vo. With envelope. 'I have decided that the best way to try to help you is to send a copy of your letter referring to your recent rejection at Kent University to Kent University along with a covering plea from myself. That is about all I can do, since I am neither an employment agency or a fairy godmother, but merely the Illustrator whom you chose to aim your considerable critical faculties towards. [...] Since I am now winning prizes like some lucky beginner, I find it irksome that I am still in no position to change the world and give everybody everywhere everything they have ever wanted. If you tune in to BBC2 on wednesday evening at 9.25pm, you will see that the public chose the stamps for the BBC Design Awards. On the 15th July I will be presented with the WH Smith Illustration Award for the best Illustrated book of the last five years (I, Leonardo), and so on. Since prizes are meant to be the badges of mediocrity, where does that leave me? An establishment figure maybe. But hardly, since my catharsis was completed /struck? in 1970 when I met Hunter S Thompson, and I would never be the same again. Nothing was that serious anymore. They cannot touch me now.'A11. 22 September 1987. Loose Valley stamp. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. With envelope. 'I was delighted to hear that you have secured a position at the one university where I was artist in residence in the 60s, even before the Art Centre had been built and the university was still a raging torment for the architect, Basil Spence. / I even saw the Pink Floyd play there in the open air quadrangle and got quite chatty with a dean or two myself. / I was invited to many of their tussling tea parties and spent much time in the photographic department distorting the Mona Lisa on negative (I had discovered image distortion in my own way even then).'A12. 18 May 1988. Loose Valley stamp. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. With envelope. 'I wonder if you are in the room I used when I was artist in residence way back in 1967. I enjoyed my time there and you seem to be enjoying it also, since your letters no longer bitch on about Maggie Thatcher and the plight of the unemployed. How soon one forgets those times of strife and uncertainty. But I do not. I stand as a sentinel always at my post, scouring the horizon for signs and portents (portents is Anna's word - doesn't it sound good?) / I am very pleased that you are settled. I tend to worry in the nether regions of my mind when friends are up against it.' His 'God book' is 'the best yet, the deepest, the most enigmatic and accessible, since its themes which are concise and all-embracing touch everyone of us in various ways. Even my sheep were impressed when I read out aloud a few passages in the orchard.'A13. [24 June 1988, Maidstone, postmark.] Loose Valley stamp, on letterhead of bat creature with human legs. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. With envelope. 'I am flattered that you should want to do an MA dissertation on my work. Wow ! Rest assured my ego has been inflated sufficiently to want to give you every help I can with its preparation. I also have many pieces of ephemera, printed matter for your perusal, should you need it. [...] following your observations on my philosophy of life I can say that the God book, The Big I Am, due out October 15th should explain all.'A14. 1 December 1988. Loose Valley stamp, on bat creature letterhead. TLS (with signature incorporating large drawing of face). 2pp., 8vo. 'We were very upset and distressed to read your letter recounting your trials and tribulations of the last year. [...] The publication of The Big I Am and the subsequent publicity tour left me rather low and depressed, a bit like a flat battery and I have not really been at my board seriously for quite some time. But I think it is probably a good thing. When I receive my artist's copies I would like to send you one with my compliments. You can look upon it as your Christmas present. Should you feel the need in the New Year to pay us a visit, please, feel free to suggest a date. It can be very relaxing here and some kind of refuge.' He is sending a copy of the Calendar (Item E14 below): 'what on earth's all the fuss about, you may ask!'A15. 2 May 1989. Loose Valley stamp, on bat creature letterhead. TLS (with signature incorporating large drawing of face). 2pp., 8vo. With envelope. He begins: 'I keep putting off writing to you because I find it so difficult to address myself to the complexity of your letters, coupled with a reticence on my part to read about myself. [...] I have looked in the dictionary for RHYPARAGRAPHICS, ONIERIC and REIFED and can find none of these words, which makes it difficult at times to understand what you are saying. / However, there are parts of your text which are interesting and which I can follow with a certain amount of fascination and curiosity. You seem to have done an awful lot of research.' He suggests that 'one quiet evening I take your questions and ramble into a tape recorder and send you the result'. He concludes: 'Ever since I've known you, you have discussed the dole queue with me and I have always considered myself out of work, because for most of my working life I've never had a job, and yet I've never been in a dole queue and say that with a certain amount of humility.'A16. 1 October 1989. Loose Valley stamp, on bat creature letterhead. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. With envelope. Regarding his latest show he complains that 'not one single art critic has bothered to notice any of it and not one single newspaper, save for an Observer listing, has even mentioned it. / As far as exhibitions go, it could be looked upon as an immaculate flop. My French publisher, who came the following day, asked me why they hadn't even bothered to put up a poster outside to announce that it was on at all.' He suggests an interview at Stone's shop, and is sending 'the American magazine, Comics Journal, with a gigantic interview with me done mostly on the phone and twice in person. Gary Groth has managed to extract from me in an inarticulate way some of the things that touch my spirit and I think these things would help you to complete your longstanding thesis. / I know you devour words and there are plenty of them here. It's a marathon.'A17. [20 December 1989, Maidstone, postmark. ACS ('Ralph & Anna'). (Image: cartoon with caption 'You may not like it, but I've just sold the film rights!') With envelope. In addition to the message, RS has written beside the cartoon, 'CIRCA 1958!'A18. [Circa December 1989?] 'Wed. 9 a.m.' ACS (Image: one man eating the American flag while another says 'Leave a piece for me brother!') 'I was distressed by your card but the thought crossed my mind as I read it. Do I detect a veiled request in there somewhere?? You obviously cannot go on persistently descending Dante's seven circles to Purgatory as though there is no other course. You have a brilliant mind. What is it that you do that exacerbates yours or any body else's attempts to pull you out of a spin? Are you perhaps a pathological social outcast, determined to prove that everyone but you is the enemy? You seem mild mannered (not dangerous!) and your propensity for study & scholarship apparently knows no bounds. You seem to have had more than your fair share of personal life tragedies as though the Gods really have it in for you alone. I dont believe that, but I am writing to you in this straightforward manner in the hope that confrontation is the better part of your psyche at this point. You are blessed with an education - can you not find something that suits your desire to be expressive. Nothing ever is easy to achieve, but a step in the right direction would be coming from you if you started to confront yourself. Am I 15% right?'A19. 26 July 1990. ACS. (Image as Item A18 above.) With envelope. 'Your enormous tome rests here awaiting my attention. It will take some reading - but it is quite safe. What a labour of love! I have a hunch it needs a serious editor who can get to the essential & truly interesting parts. I may well show it to Cape - if it turns out to be readable. / We are off to America Friday - for Oddbins & to see a Biosphere in TUCSON, ARIZONA'.A20. 30 September 1990. Loose Valley stamp, on bat creature letterhead. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. He is sending a 'few posters to hang on your walls'. Regarding GW's study ('your huge tome') RS writes that he has 'still only dipped into' it: 'it is a daunting task reading about oneself'. He suggests that GW 'have a word with Liz Ottaway at the Cartoon Centre in Canterbury. She could always pop over and see the copy here. / I have been so busy this year - probably the busiest ever. / My new book, Tales of the Weirrd, is out on 1st November. The opera I wrote with Richard Harvey, The Plague and the Moonflower, is being performed at Canterbury Cathedral on 10th October. I enclose a brochure. [Item E22 below] An exhibition of sculptures (my first) and silkscreens (my first) will be on 17th October at the October Gallery - just round the corner from Bernard's.' Stamped at foot: '10% DISCOUNT TO ALL EMPLOYEES OF THIS COMPANY'.A21. [26 October 1990, Maidstone, postmark.] Loose Valley stamp, with bat creature letterhead. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. He is glad GW saw his opera Plague and the Moonflower at Canterbury Cathedral. 'I find it extraordinary that such a powerful performance was ever associated with something that I had originally written. I am always very moved by the music. / The Financial Times was less than kind and described it as "a labyrinth of pretentious twaddle" and "a gush of monumental pomposity". Perhaps he was moved by it and didn't like the experience.'A22. 1 February 1991. Loose Valley stamp, with bat creature letterhead. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. With envelope. 'Does nothing escape you? Even the time in my life that passes in secret is visible to you.' He discusses the genesis of his book Weirrd.A23. 8 October 1991. Loose Valley stamp, with bat creature letterhead. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. With envelope. 'Try hard not to keep analysing yourself. It's a desperate practice and only leads to self-flagellation. Simply be creative if you feel the need to do something. Don't question where it came from.'A24. 24 December 1991. ACS. (Image: Untitled drawing by RS of silhouettes of wine-drinking revellers around a Christmas tree.) With envelope. Carrying an original crude full-page drawing by RS of startled face in Christmas hat. 'You came into my mind and I immediately grabbed this card and here it is.'A25. 2 August 1992. ACS. (Image: 'Bloody Margaret'.) With envelope. 'I agreed with you re The Malevich dilemma - what good is Art to those struggling with their priorities. I am trying to find the new relevance in my work & continue to work in different ways.'A26. 21 December 1992. ACS (by RS from 'Ralph, Anna & Sadie XX'). (Image by The Steam Press: Crowned Hunter S. Thompson in straight jacket.) With envelope. 'May you continue to shine in your academic world and discover things that can only bring light to the darkest corners of our prejudice and fear.'A27. 11 May 1993. ACS. (Image: Christmas card, as Item A24 above.) 'Boy, am I busy & since last September I have been travelling to Aberdeen making screen prints and etchings of 'Leaders - Victims of Fate' and famous writers. I enclose a few for your archive.' (The five small colour photographs, each signed and dated by RS, with a number of captions, are Item E33 below.) He undertakes to send GW 'any progress & ephemera'.A28. 26 August 1993. ALS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). With envelope. 'I am struggling with a book on whisky and working on prints of a whole new body of work in an Aberdeen printshop.'A29. 23 November 1993. ACS. (Image not by Steadman.) With envelope. 'Just back from Montpelier where I have a show of my prints - photos related & PARANOIDS.'A30. 3 January 1994. ACS. (Image not by Steadman.) '10 years ago we were wondering if George Orwell would be anywhere near the truth. At the time I thought he was miles off and now I realise that the surveillance was so clever I didn't realise I was being watched and the level of Newspeak was so intense I had gone deaf.'A31. 17 May 1994. ACS. (Image: 'Portraits d'une capitale' by Claude Baillargeon, over which RS has written 'Say BRIÉ!') With envelope. He reports that he is 'Contemplating a book at present called "Virtual Machinery".'A32. 31 May 1994. TLS (with signature incorporating drawing of face). 1p., 8vo. With envelope. GW is 'such a generous chap, sending me books! [...] Please, don't spend your precious money on me!' He informs him that 'poor Bernard Stone is in hospital with TB and other related complaints. He has not been looking after himself.'A33. 18 December 1995. ACS. (Image: '"Idris" y ddraig'.) Christmas card with long message thanking GW for 'the gorgeous book on Kent', and informing him that Stone 'is making excellent progress though he will never own a shop again. The most unique Book seller has been forced to retire. There are a lot of thirsty poets stumbling around London looking for another water hole right now!' With original envelope carrying an original drawing by RS of a strange creature like a pantomime horse enclosing the autograph address.A34. 16 March 1996. ACS. (Image: 'Perfect Gentleman', on invitation to Steadman's 1996 show at the Barney Wyckoff Gallery, Aspen, 'A Snow-Hating Welshman in Aspen'.) 'I believe, that you with your feverish brain, could find something interesting to say about a garden pea or even er - a parking meter coin slot. / However, I have been straining for months to find the perfect picture for you - & bam! This is William [Burroughs]'s favourite picture - he says "it all looks so easy & so natural & so it should be'. I gave him a copy & here is your copy. I hope you like it.' He has just completed 'a children's book about punctuation - called THE FULL STOP STORY - what a negative response from Andersen - who dont like the word WEIRRD - or GONZO - so bugger them - I'll go elsewhere. The show in Aspen in going fine.'A35. 31 May 1997. ACS. (Image: 'Deja vu - Café du Pont - Pommard - Burgogne (Côte d'Or)'.) With envelope. 'I have been reading Hunter's collected letters - '58-'67. The PROUD HIGHWAY. It is another Hunter entirely. Very strange and then just odd flashes of a future maverick. Very much the conformist behind a rebel's mask. Meanwhile, I am preparing GONZO, The ART for next year - and F & L in Las Vegas is going ahead as a film (Terry GILLIAM & Johnny DEPP) in July.'A36. 13 September 1997. ACS. (Image: 'The Four Leprechauns of the Apocalypse hovering over an Irish bog'.) With envelope. He thanks him for his 'letter re William [Burroughs]': 'To meet him once was to know him - he was an infectious character & you might almost say that his candour was a kindness to help you not to make a fool of yourself by saying something unnecessary. I enjoyed our meetings a lot. What an extraordinary ability to be able to write without flinching about the most distasteful aspects of human behaviour & transform them into real live literature. Maybe at last he became Joe the Dead & reached The Western Lands. As Hunter once said - maybe the ones who ever really reach the edge, are the ones who go over it'.A37. 10 March 1998. Signed autograph message on three cards. (Images: 'Deja vu', as Item A35 above; 'TURKEY BUZZARDS over the SPRING WINERY'; and 'Perfect Gentleman', as Item A34 above.) With envelope. 'There are such self-righteous little shits in our midst - they think the whole point of life is official welfare prevention. They would stop a cripple on broken crutches if they thought he was after an unauthorised new pair. I hate them all - even the socialist ones! I am 'doing' Nietzsche at the moment so I can say to you - that which does not kill you makes you stronger - and fuck those people. For a smile I enclose a copy of Hunter's foreword to my forthcoming book - GONZO - The ART. I call it my hate mail'. He also discusses the public reaction to the Royal Mail's rejection of his 'Hancock stamp'. He ends by advising GW to 'Unburden your woes.'A38. 25 October 1998. ACS. (Image: 'Perfect Gentleman', as Item A34 above.) With envelope. 'I am overwhelmed by your strange, informed, incisive, comprehensive, extraordinary reflections and serious opinions about my work. [...] We should arrange a visit for you so that together with a tape recorder we can get to the bottom of your persistence, your undoubted obsession with ART and its ability to scour the innards of life's fierce infidelities.'A39. 29 November 1999. ACS. (Image: 'Drawing from the "Poor Mouth"', as Item A8 above.) 'Many thanks for your action packed letter. We have quite a file of them now and wonder if we should have an exhibition of them at the Maidstone Library. I am very flattered that you should so obviously put such an effort into your show of me. and I can imagine that grumbling British opposition you have encountered. I hate the whole English disease of indifference. Now, in America they say Yeah! Let's try it!! Our lecture in Athens Georgia University was an unqualified success, & not least because they put such wild enthusiasm into the whole event & I gave seminars through the week as part of my joyful obligation. So, we should think of a lecture in the opening months of the New Millenium [sic] (too soon before Xmas) & thank you for asking. We look forward to seeing your display. And the title of the lecture? "So, what you doin' for the next thousand years?"'B. White to SteadmanB1. 29 March 1985. Copy of TLS. The Old Post Office, Feock, Truro, Cornwall. 1p., 8vo. He was 'jubilantly surprised' to receive RS's card (Item A1 above), which he is having 'framed and glazed, as for the time being, this is the closest I will get to owning an original Ralph Steadman artwork'. He would have replied sooner, but 'was called to the University of Leeds to attend an interview for a course on the social history of art'. He fears that RS will find his 'humble offer[ing] [...] far too "academic", and nowhere near as spontaneous and humorous as your own output. [...] If the pen is mightier than the sword, then the lampoon must be sharper than the harpoon.'B2. 15 April 1985. Copy of TLS. Old Post Office, Feock. 4pp., 8vo. He thanks him for his 'generosity and kindness', and is 'truly thrilled' by what RS has sent him. 'Yes, by all means keep the typescript [...] After all, you were the primary reader I had in mind at the time of composition.' He discusses RS's work in relation to Bataille, Artaud, Sollers, Clavel, Blake and Joyce.B3. 25 April 1985. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo. He is sending RS some of his more 'creative' work, including a piece inspired by his I, Leonardo. Stone, whom he has contacted to purchase some RS items, has suggested that he send his essay on RS.B4. 10 May 1985. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. With reference to I, Leonardo, he expands on the theme that 'the so-called "discussion of the arts" which took place in Renaissance Italy must have taken the form of semi-articulate slanging and gratuitous linguistic abuse'. He is enclosing his 'own essayistic reflections' on Inspector Mouse.B5. 15 July 1985. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo. On pink paper. He considers Quasimodo Mouse 'sheer brilliance' and is enclosing his 'own appreciation' (Item D1 below, 'An Inspired Hunch?'). He suggests that RS and Stone write 'a book starring Hunter (Thompson) Hipmouse', giving a detailed description of what he describes as 'a sort of pastiche of one of his Rolling Stone articles'.B6. 6 March 1986. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo. Thanking RS for an autographed copy of Emergency Mouse, and enclosing his 'as ever tongue-in-cheek "serious" analysis' of it (Item D2 below, 'Doctorin' the Mouse').B7. 21 March 1986. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo. Enclosing 'a typed appreciation of [RS's] postage-stamp designs' (Item D5 below, 'Seeing Stars'). He describes how, after having 'blown ever last penny' on RS's A Leg in the Wind, he 'walked home to Truro. And that was after dealing with Thatcher's thieves down at the D.H.S.S.'B8. 9 April 1986. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. Thanking him for 'the autographed postcards of your stamp designs', and discussing 'the rare, elusive' Still Life with Raspberry, a copy of which he has acquired.B9. 9 May 1986. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. Discussing Welshness, with relation to RS.B10. 23 May 1986. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. He is deeply unhappy following an exhibition at Bernard Stone's bookshop. 'I never proffer bullshit to anyone. I never bloat myself full of my own gaseous self-promotion. When I mentioned to you that actually meeting you meant quite a lot to me, I sincerely meant it. I did not merely spout it out as the closest crap which came into my Thatcherized-benumbed skull.' He criticises the 'many procrastinators, erstwhile procurators, hookers, whores, sycophants, farting poets, the crass and crap of a certain sector of society who have never had to actually grovel, work, cajole, and threaten... simply to attend such a gathering as your own. And what do these crass fuckers do when they get there? They kow-tow. They buy nowt. They swoon and get pissed as arseholes. [...] The various bits and pieces which I have written about yourself have been meant first of all as missals of thanks to yourself; secondly as buckshot-pump-action ballistic farts in the face of people who in the past have been eager enough to read my work, yet now, being unemployed, would look twice before using it to wipe the arse of next-door's cat.'B11. 3 June 1986. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TL, with long postscript in autograph (not copy). 3pp., 8vo. A 'postal goody-bag' of information.B12. 20 January 1987. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo.B13. 22 April 1987. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. Describing his father's ill health ('he is one of the Chief Examiners for G.C.S.E. Technical Drawing') and his own academic plans.B14. 16 May 1987. Old Post Office, Feock. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo.B15. 17 September 1987. East Slope Residences, University of Sussex, Brighton. Copy of ALS. 2pp., 8vo. 'I have [...] finally been awarded money by the British Academy, and got accepted on the MA History of Art course at the University of Sussex.'B16. 2 December 1987. East Slope Residences, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. Discussing his course, and enclosing his review of RS's Scar Strangled Banger (Item D3 below, 'A Horrifying Book To Buy').B17. 10 May 1988. East Slope Residences, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo.B18. 17 June 1988. East Slope Residences, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. 'Good news to tell you: after some slight persuasion I have got my supervisor to accept that my major M.A. dissertation be devoted to the work of yourself.' He finds that the majority of RS's work 'is concerned with the terrors implicit within power of any kind: be it the power of advertising and enforced consumerism; the power of the church; the army - of whatever nation; the power which all politicians immediately assume whether elected or otherwise.'B19. 26 November 1988. Brighton General Hospital. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. Describing 'this most morose episode' of his life. Following his father's death intestate the previous Christmas, he was informed that several members of his family have been 'involved in fraudulent activity'; this was followed by the death of his girlfriend Lyn, and his own immediate admission to hospital.B20. 2 January 1989. Brighton General Hospital. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. He describes his 'thesis-to-be come-what may! upon yourself', which 'seems to have grown quite prodigiously'.B21. 17 January 1989. 18 Dorset Gardens, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo. He has been discharged, and is 'thinking of moving away from Brighton altogether, immediately, and heading for either Canterbury or Warwick, or Oxford'. 'The dissertation continues to grow and grow... a phenomenal 75 pages - plus the introductory section.'B22. 7 March 1989. Dorset Gardens, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. He is sending a 'sample selection of pages from the work-in-progress' (presumably Item D6 below), and asks for 'some background information upon the genesis' of RS's The Big I Am.B23. 21 April 1989. Dorset Gardens, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. He hopes that RS has 'safely received the portion of the "revised version" of R.S. Rhyparagraphos on the interactions between yourself, H.S.T. and the U.S.A.' He discusses Brighton and his course, and addresses eleven long questions to RS regarding The Big I Am.B24. 6 July 1989. 2 Chelwood Close, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 5pp., 8vo. After describing his new premises poses questions relating to R.S. Rhyparagraphos. He is 'bugged' that RS is 'displeased [...] in some way' with 'the piece regarding/Called "R.S., H.S.T. & the U.S.A."'.B25. 13 September 1989. Chelwood Close, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 8pp., 8vo. He apologises for his reticence on meeting RS, and his wife RS's show Who? Me? No! Why? at the Tricycle Gallery, London. The greater part of the letter is devoted to a further discussion of RS's work, with particular reference to Bachelard's Poetics of Space.B26. 1 December 1989. Chelwood Close, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. 'Since we met at the Tricyle, so much seems to have happened: the death of a lady (yet another!) to whom I was closely attached; I believe I sent you the newspaper clipping with a rather gnomic letter. Confrontations left, right and centre: with one of the senior officials of the Brighton Housing Trust, which ended upon an amicable note; with a social worker - aargh! - which terminated in an outburst of confrontationist polemic from yrs truly, in which I questioned the episteme within which he was malfunctioning. [...] Today I received the Oddbins Winter 1989 blurb by post. - Another piece of ephemera to add to my expanding collection. (The assistant manager of the London Road, Brighton, branch, promised me your previous posters once he received the new promotional material. [...])'B27. 14 June 1990. Egremont Place, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. Resuming contact after a 'prolonged period of epistolary silence'. 'Well-established and happy in my new abode. Been here a little under five months now. The wounds self-inflicted and otherwise of the past are now mending with scar-tissue. No longer physically and mentally at death's door.'B28. 21 September 1990. Egremont Place, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. He finds 'life in Brighton [...] pretty good at the moment', although he is 'still on long-term sickness'. He is 'in something of a quandry [sic] as to what to do with the script of R. S. Rhyparagraphos': 'I have tried contacting the Art History dept at the University of Sussex, but they have apparently run out of writing materials'. In the meantime he has been 'attempting to rewrite a piece on Nic Roeg's Performance (probably the best movie of all time?). . . . And also, adding to my collection of antiquarian books and prints.'B29. 18 October 1990. Egremont Place, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. He is 'thrilled dumbstruck by the artwork [RS] so kindly sent, which is now being carefully, strategically placed about the house with much aforethought. Greatly to the approval of the others I share this house with too.' He describes his response to RS's opera The Plague and the Moonflower, which he 'went up to Canterbury to see [...] with another guy living in the house.'B30. 4 November 1990. Egremont Place, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. Describing his responses to two of RS's shows: Red Alert! at the October Gallery ('the first time I'd been to London since we met at the Tricycle Gallery last year') and The Plague and the Moonflower. Regarding the latter, he includes 'the most pertinent' of the notes he took 'whilst in the gallery'. He ends by undertaking to 'write again to Liz Ottaway at the University of Kent', as RS suggested.B31. 27 January 1991. Egremont Place, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. Discussing RS's Tales of the Weirrd, and the 'Marxist and structuralist theory' in which GW was previously 'thoroughly absorbed'.B32. 13 July 1991. 168 Dudeney Lodge, Upper Hollingdean Road, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. 'There is this deep-seated fear I have that should I cease writing for a prolonged period of time, the writing centres of my mind will pack up. [...] A phrase from one of your letters of some time back - "weirding the creative juices" - comes to my mind again at this point. (I quote that phrase, a couple of times, I think, in my study of your work.) It is a process involving calculated risks - for what if the "weirding" taking place, this [sic] can find no adequate creative/productive outlet? Ideas spinning off left and right, describing wondrous trajectories . . . berserk clay pigeon shoot.'B33. 18 December 1991. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. He discusses RS's work for the wine merchants Oddbins: 'to walk into Oddbins is in many respects like walking into an installation. Very much like those old dog-eared photos of the interior of the Cabaret Voltaire and those other venues festooned with Dada art in Paris and Zurich.' He also comments on RS's 'programme on animation'.B34. 30 July 1992. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. He begins by commenting on 'the recent televised discussion' between RS and the Bishop of Durham Dr David Jenkins, and ends with the conclusion that 'people are losing the ability to examine, to scrutinize anything for themselves'. He finds 'traces of affinity' between RS's present position and that 'in which Kasimir Malevich found himself in Russia after the first heady days of the avant-garde was over. What did the finely-constructed artwork have to say to the pauperized millions? In what way was it relevant to their lives?'B35. 14 September 1992. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. Describing in detail his response to RS's television production The Hanging Garden Centres of Kent. 'What an extravaganza of subversion! The British (well, Welsh. . . ) Bunuel. The Southeast Surrealist.'B36. 2 October 1992. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 5pp., 8vo. Describing in great detail his response to RS's London exhibition 'The Grapes of Ralph'.B37. 18 November 1992. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo. Hoping, as RS is 'making a guest-appearance at Waterstone's [bookshop] in Brighton', that he and GW can 'arrange to meet somewhere quieter than the hubbub of shops and galleries, in which we usually encounter one another'.B38. 22 August 1993. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. He is 'helping out' in Colin Page's bookshop in Brighton, and transcribes a passage from an antiquarian book, which, 'Beautifully rebound by Mr Page himself, [...] currently resides upon a shelf in his room of rare and specialist books.'B39. 14 November 1993. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo.B40. 19 October 1994. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. 'I learned of the close of the Turret only after the event. The concept of Bernard actually stopping is difficult to come to terms with. (Also I was annoyed more than a ltitle with the manager of the bookshop where I help out, as he had the catalogue for the sale, but never even considered showing me the catalogue before the sale - only a week after! I could have swung at people with a monkey wrench to get hold of one of the copies of The Threshold which were in the sale. (I have subsequently written to the auctioneers, who have passed my letter on to one of the purchasers. No joy as yet.'B41. 18 December 1994. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. Discussing how RS is turning his 'paranoid/polaroid technique ['your combination of photomontage and line in the same composition'] to buildings and landscapes'.B42. 16 January 1995. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. Discussing in detail RS's Still Life with Bottle.B43. 1 May 1995. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 4pp., 8vo. On reading Paul Perry's 1992 biography of Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing, he discusses the relationship between RS and Thompson. 'I would suggest that Thompson is not the lone maverick which he would like to be - in either pretence or actuality. / Why is it that his work is jolted to a higher level (i.e. out of a gonzo stream of consciousness which is now - at times - becoming the weary, wordy jadedness of unexpected amphetamine comedown - into insights of verbal genius) when he works with you? / I think that the answer is that you are the key element in all this. [...] You teach him the art of seeing. / And then he writes.'B44. 9 May 1995. On letterhead of the Brighton antiquarian bookseller Colin Page. Copy of ALS. 1p., 8vo.B45. 6 February 1996. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. Discussing RS's recent interview in the Independent on Sunday. 'The other point which particularly struck me, was the mention of the name of William Burroughs linked to your own. / For years I have been a great admirer of Burroughs' work, and I have written about him, and occasionally to him, and he has been kind enough to respond with generosity. / For both of you, the humorous, the horrific, and the human seem to form a sort of interdefining triangle. In fact, when I was writi[n]g about William Burroughs, I found myself using some of the same - or similar - lines of argument which I had applied to your work; the picaresque; the scatalogical; the wilful shredding of accepted technical "finesse"/polish, and, instead, the striving for experimental incompletion.'B46. 12 March 1996. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TL. 1p., 8vo. Commenting on the twin interview of RS and William Burroughs in the Independent Sunday Review. 'A couple of years after I discovered your work in Still Life. . . when it was given away as part of a subscription offer by Private Eye (1972?) I discovered the work of William Burroughs, and have been following his work ever since, too. A "parallel world" of research, one might say. / . . .and at last, not a collision of worlds - but rather an intermeshing of strands.'B47. 9 May 1996. On Colin Page letterhead. Copy of ALS. 1p., 8vo.B48. 16 May 1997. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of ALS. 1p., 8vo. 'A couple of weeks ago, a friendly book dealer in London offered me a copy of The Threshold - that elusive item which Bernard was always loath to part with; and, by golly I can see why. It must surely be the most lavish and daring of all Bernard's acts of publication. What a book indeed! Have you and Ted Hughes never contemplated combining forces again? It is sheer dynamite.'B49. 6 November 1997. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo. Criticising the obituaries of William Burroughs in the British press.B50. 16 November 1997. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. He wonders whether the absence of RS's work from the latest Oddbins catalogue is 'simply a temporary pause' or 'indicative of a break from this line of artwork altogether'. He 'cannot partake of the tipple alcoholic in any form these days' himself, as 'it would not mix with the hemenevrin I have to take to stop the convulsions'.B51. 2 March 1998. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. Describing his dismissal from the bookshop following an altercation with a DSS official, whom GW told he 'ought to be truly ashamed of his dishonest profession of systematically kicking people when they are down'. He finds Brighton 'a squalid little town'.B52. 6 April 1998. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. Regarding 'Hunter's typically scurrilous piece' he writes: 'Does he praise no-one - ever? . . . Well, perhaps Hemingway, in some mysterious way, by a sort of (un)conscious emulation. . . perhaps. . .'.B53. 6 September 1998. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TL. 3pp., 8vo. Announcing that in 'the first week of October I officially begin the M.A. art history course (or Sequential Design, to give it its prospectus-title) at the University of Brighton'. He discusses RS's Gonzo, and his own work in the antiquarian bookshops of Brighton: Colin Page (from which 'the wretched little turd from the D.S.S. got me the push') and Holleyman and Treacher ('The shop was on five storeys (I think) . . . during the three weeks I was helping them, I lost count of all the different floors; [...] this Victorian labyrinth (which had started life as a temperance hotel) seemed quite beneficial to my deep-vein thrombosis - although it made the ulcers bleed like pigs some days.').B54. 28 September 1998. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TL. 5pp., 8vo. Discussing in detail RS's 'opera exhibition' at the Royal Albert Hall.B55. 18 October 1998. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 7pp., 8vo. Discussing in great detail RS's three 'texts/books', Still Life with Raspberry, Between the Eyes and Gonzo.B56. 20 May 1999. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 1p., 8vo.B57. 3 October 1999. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. Discussing RS's 'kind present of your latest work/masterwork, your reading/illustration of Roald Dahl's The Mildenhall Treasure' in terms of GW's 'notion that the illustration of a text (be it one's own, or more especially someone else's) constitutes an analytic "deconstruction" of the text in question'. GW is attracted by the suggestion by his supervisor Dr Chris Mullen that he 'should seriously consider putting on a short-duration exhibition of my Ralph Steadman Archive (or a selection therefrom) down at the University of Brighton, perhaps producing an accompanying catalogue'.B58. 26 November 1999. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. Describing how he has 'put on a show of your work, taken from my own collection', 'arranged in three large display cabinets in the corridor adjacent to the Department of Sequential Design postgrad rooms' at Brighton University. 'In the process of putting on this mini-exhibition, I have become aware of how much material I have relating to you. It could easily fill the cabinets so far used at least once more - probably twice - without any item being duplicated.' He invites RS to visit the exhibition, and to 'give a lecture or seminar'.B59. 18 December 1999. Dudeney Lodge, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 3pp., 8vo. He describes the difficulties he encountered in mounting the exhibition. Financial mismanagement has meant that he was left to 'get on with it' himself. 'The most meaningful tributes regarding my organisation of the exhibition came from the departing Professor John Lord, the Dean, Bruce Brown [...] - and most important, from students themselves; many of whom made the effort to seek out the corridor (I was not even allowed facilities to produce an ersatz poster; all was done by word of mouth) especially to look at the exhibition of your work. [...] As I was taking it down, students actually thanked me for putting it on, saying that it was the best exhibition some of them had seen in their entire three years as undergraduates in the university. Students were even calling in on the Departmental secretary, asking her if there was a catalogue which they could purchase. There wasn't because no one offered to assist me in producing one. Quite the reverse in fact.' The letter also describes GW's ill-health, his problems with the benefit agencies and health services, and the state of 'Tony Blair's Brighton', 'a community far, far worse than that filmed by Luis Bunuel in Land Without Bread'.C. Miscellaneous CorrespondenceC1. Bernard Stone to GW. 17 June 1985. On his Turret Bookshop letterhead. TCS. 'Ralph has been on holiday in Yugoslavia, recuperating from a short stay in Hospital, [...] Your articles [are] quite remarkable. Why don't you send them to 'ILLUSTRATOR' (European) 12, Carlton House Terrace, LONDON S.W.1. They publish a magazine.'C2. GW to Bernard Stone. 18 September 1987. East Slope Residences, Brighton. Copy of ALS. 1p., 8vo. Offering to put 'details of any signings, happenings in the Turret [...] on the common room notice board. - Although you seem to attract the crowds as it is.'C3. GW to Anna Steadman. 13 September 1989. Chelwood Close, Brighton. Copy of ALS. 3pp., 8vo. 'I find something not pitiful (I have no pity left) but pathetic about the imposing poseurs one finds lurking around such galleries: most of them drinking the wine rather than looking at what is staring them in the face, and saying in no uncertain terms: For fuck's sake, are you paying attention to this or not??'C4. Anna Steadman to GW. 16 October 1989. 1p., 8vo. 'You must have puzzled when you read Ralph's letter [of 1 October 1989; A16, above] to find no magazine. So I am sending it by separate cover. [It is E15 below.] We hope you enjoy it and find it informative.'C5. GW to Professor Norbert Lynton. 13 November 1990. Egremont Place, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. He describes how he is 'living in a recovery project for alcoholics and addicts', following 'the deaths of my father, of Lyn, and of Pam, in such a hellishly brief timespan'.C6. GW to Liz Ottaway, Centre for Cartoon and Caricature, University of Kent. 13 November 1990. Egremont Place, Brighton. Copy of TLS. 2pp., 8vo. Announcing that 'my work on Ralph Steadman is now complete - or, let's say, as provisionally "finished" as any work on an artist who is still very much alive can be. [...] [RS] mentioned that I should seek some further development of my work . . . be it in the form of academic recognition at postgraduate level, or in published form . . . or both!'C7. Hunter S. Thompson. Photocopy of fax of corrected typescript foreword to RS's Gonzo, on Thompson's Owl Farm letterhead. 3pp., 8vo. Dated electronically 6 March 1998, and the original signed by Thompson from Woody Creek, Colorado, 16 [sic] March 1998. Preceded by a covering note by Thompson to Susan Haynes at Weidenfeld & Nicholson ('Okay, Susan, here's Pg. One of my Foreword, just as we discussed. Pg. Two will follow in a few hours, & then will come Pg. Three. So prepare the Cheque immediately.') The foreword begins: 'Fuck You & yr. cheap drunken whining. I'm tired of yr. increasingly squalid Suckfish act.'D. White on SteadmanD1. 'An Inspired Hunch? Re: Quasimodo Mouse / For: Messrs Stone & Steadman.' Typescript. 5pp. on pink paper (plus title on green paper), 8vo. Written from Truro. Undated; accompanying GW's letter of 15 July 1985 (Item B5, above).D2. 'Doctorin' the Mouse / (On Emergency Mouse by Bernard Stone & Ralph Steadman)' Typescript. 5pp., 8vo. Written from Truro. Undated; accompanying GW's letter of 6 March 1986 (Item B6, above).D3. 'A Horrifying Book To Buy / Ralph Steadman, Scar Strangled Banger, 1987, £15.95'. Typescript. 2pp., 8vo. Undated; accompanying GW's letter of 2 December 1987 (Item B16 above).D4. 'Freud seen by Steadman/ Annexe II'. Typescript. 4pp., 8vo. Four copies.D5. 'Seeing Stars / Ralph Steadman's Stamps of Authenticity / or / '. . . nearer my God to thee'. Typescript. 7pp (plus covering title), 8vo. Discussing the postage stamps designed by RS for the Royal Mail. Sent with GW's letter of 21 March 1986 (Item B7 above). Postscript added 5 February 1987. D6. Untitled typescript of part of GW's study of RS, relating to Thompson's Curse of Lono and RS's Scar Strangled Banger. 10pp., 8vo. Undated, but apparently the 'sample selection of pages from the work-in-progress' mentioned in GW's letter of 7 March 1989 (Item B22 above). Together with: 'H.S.T. on R.S.'s AMERICA'. Typescript. 3pp., 4to. 'Extracts from Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt, Picador Books, London, 1980, p.119ff.--'D7. 'Ralph Steadman: Between Covers | Between the Lines.' Typescript. 5 pp., 4to. Notes by GW for a catalogue to an 'Exhibition/Display' of his collection of RS's work at the University of Brighton in November 1999 (see Items B58 and B59 above). He describes how his 'first collection of Ralph Steadman's work was made between 1970 and 1980 (the year in which it was sold by the dipsodal cow who was landlady of the Covent Garden pub where I lived and worked)'. In 1985 he acquired a copy of RS's Still Life with Raspberry, and his 'collecting recommenced [...] The first version of my original essay devoted to Ralph's work spanned some 30 or so pages. At the last rough estimate, not including letters, it had grown to circa 300pp. if not more. [...] Bundles of R.S. related text, some bound, some in bulging files, colonize every room in the flat - except for the bathroom/w.c.'D8. Untitled typescript. 2pp., 4to. Associated with the last item, in different typeface and larger font size. 'The assortment of books and ephemera also constitute a trace (perhaps in the Derridan sense) of a correspondence and friendship with Ralph Steadman which spans over 15 years.'E. Steadman EphemeraE1. Copy of Rolling Stone magazine (London edition), 27 September 1973. Cover story 'Fear and Loathing at the Watergate / By Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Illustrated By Ralph Steadman'.E2. Copy of 'Ralph Steadman's Dirty Post Card', advertising RS's 'Thirty Bob Sale' at the Turret Bookshop, in aid of Shelter, on 11 to 15 April [1978?].E3. Copy of Covent Garden Carrot, vol. 1 no. 1 [1980], by Stone and Steadman. 1p., 4to. This and the next item accompanied by autograph note by GW: 'Both Ralph & Bernard have difficulty recollecting how many issues were concocted (often in the pub opposite the Turret!) and run-off by Bernard & one of his assistants in his basement stockroom.'E4. Copy of Covent Garden Carrot, vol. 1 no. 2 [1980], by Stone and Steadman. 1p., 8vo. With coffee stains. See note by GW to last item.E5. Turret Bookshop 1984 prospectus for Quasimodo Mouse by Stone and Steadman. No illustrations.E6. RS's bookmark for the RSC 1984 production of Henry VIII.E7-12. Six small colour photographs by GW of RS and a 'Kissogram Girl' at his birthday party at the Turret Bookshop, 1986. With covering note by GW apologising for the poor quality of the images, and the strip of negatives.E13. Copy of the February 1986 issue of the British Philatelic Bulletin. RS's four stamps on cover. With TLS from J. McQue, Customer Services, British Philatelic Bureau to GW, 20 March 1986; and copy of TLS by GW to the Public Relations Office, South West Postal Division, 22 March 1986.E14. Large postcard with illustration by RS for his 1986 Alice and the Paranoids show at the Royal Festival Hall, London.E15. Copy of programme for the RSC 1986 production of Peter Barnes' adaptation of Georges Feydeau's Scenes from a Marriage. Illustrated on cover and throughout by RS.E16. Copy of a portrait by RS of Margaret Thatcher, dated 6 June 1987, with the name of the original recipient crossed out by RS and replaced by 'Graham WHITE', and the words 'Something to throw darts at!' added in his autograph.E17. Copy of catalogue of the 1987 'Critical Lines' exhibition at the Talbot Rice Art Centre, Edinburgh. Featuring RS and Gerald Scarfe, and with design by RS on cover. GW's bookplate, and covering note by Bill of the University of Edinburgh, describing the catalogue as 'very limited'.E18. Copy of Oddbins catalogue, Winter 1987.E19. Copy of Living Loose / The 1989 Calendar for LOOSE Village, KENT / by Ralph STEADman. Inscribed on back 'For Grahame White / Warm wishes & speedy recoveries from / [signed] Ralph Steadman 30 Nov 88'. Slip from the Loose Amenities Association loosely inserted, apologising for 'any ill-will which this matter has caused'.E20. Copy of The Comics Journal, September 1989. Cover story: 'Into the Gentle Darkness of Ralph Steadman / Gary Groth interviews the acclaimed British cartoonist'.E21. Copy of Annual Report 1989 of Moat Housing Society and Bailey Housing Association, Sevenoaks, Kent. Illustration by RS on cover.E22. Copy of Oddbins catalogue, Winter 1989.E23. Six copies of flier for the 1989 Connaught Theatre production of Michael Bath's Black Nightingale, illustrated by RS. With two press photographs from the production, and a compliments slip from the Connaught Theatre.E24-25. Flier and invitation to the private view of RS's 1989 show Who? Me? No! Why? at the Tricycle Gallery, London.E26. Three copies of pamphlet Australia at Oddbins Illustrated by Ralph Steadman [c.1989].E27. Two copies of Oddbins catalogue, Summer 1990.E28. Copy of programme for the 1990 Canterbury Festival production of The Plague and the Moonflower by RS and Richard Harvey at Canterbury Cathedral.E29. Copy of large postcard by RS, advertising the 1990 screening on BBC of his The Plague and the Moonflower.E30. Copy of intivation to reception for RS's 1990 October Gallery show Red Alert.E31. Full-page RS Oddbins advertisement, extracted from the Guardian newspaper, 3 November 1990.E32. Copy of pamphlet The Oddbins Gift Box [c.1990].E33. Three copies of pamphlet Oddbins Island Malts Islay Skye Jura Mull Orkney [c.1991].E34. Two copies of pamphlet Oddbins New Releases [c.1991].E35. Copy of Oddbins catalogue, Winter 1991.E36. Copy of Oddbins catalouge, Winter 1992.E37. Copy of the invitation to the private view of RS's 1992 The Grapes of Ralph show, at the Foyer Galleries, Royal Festival Hall.E38. Two copies of the invitation to the private view of RS's 1993 Acid and Ink show with the Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen.E39-43. Five photographs by RS of 'screen prints and etchings of 'Leaders - Victims of Fate' and famous writers' in the Aberdeen Acid and Ink show, mentioned by RS in his letter of 11 May 1993 (Item A27 above). Each photograph signed and dated by RS, with a number of captions.E44. Copy of invitation to the private view of RS's 1994 show at the Pittville Gallery, Cheltenham and Gloucester College, Cheltenham, Multiple Fractures: Thirty Years of Print-Making.E45-46. Copies of a press release and of an invitation to an event, both relating to the Romanian National Opera tour of Britain, 1994. Both carrying illustration by RS at head.E47. Flier, with designs by RS, for Migraine Action Week, 4-10 September 1995.E48. 1995 large Oddbins postcard of RS drawing of drunken grape tree with king branches.E49. Large Oddbins postcard of RS's 'The Ultimate Wine Boar' (c.1995).E50. Large Oddbins postcard of RS's 'The Proprietor of The Epicentre Deli - on the San Andreas Fault - Olema, California' (c.1996).E51. Small Oddbins RS postcard for Loire wines (c.1996).E52. Small Oddbins RS postcard for South of France wines (c.1996).E53. Cutting of interview with RS by Ben Thompson, from the Independent on Sunday, 14 January 1996.E54. Copy of Oddbins French Wines in Plain English pamphlet [c.1996].E55. Copy of Oddbins The Specialist catalogue, issue 9, 24 November 1997 to 25 January 1998.E56. Copy of Oddbins The Specialist Champagne catalogue, 10 May to 27 June 1999.E57. Copy of Artists & Illustrators magazine, December 1999. Cover story: 'Ralph Steadman The Spirit of Renewal' ('A New Line on the Millennium'). Inscribed in red ink on pp.36-37: 'For Graham WHITE. / Ralph Steadman / 29/11/99'.E58. Copy of catalogue for the charity auction Vintage Ralph, inscribed by RS 'For GRAHAME WHITE from Ralph Steadman / 29. Nov. 99 -'.E59. Undated black and white photocopy flier (for Oddbins?), with illustration by RS on one side and Jack Kerouac's poem 'Skid Row Wine' on the other.?>