Reports have been coming in about the state of the Ralph Steadman page here. So, a mutual friend of mine and JR has come to the fore and saved my Irish bacon. He goes by the name Brian, he is a Hunter S. Thompson collector but more of a Ralph Steadman freak.
I asked him if he would help me out with the Ralph page, and after some arm twisting, cajoling, and wheedling he agreed. I asked Brian to do this because his knowledge of all things Ralph Steadman by far outstrips mine.
Brian works full time and has enough on his plate without me beating his door down, begging for help. So thanks Brian, I appreciate it. And many thanks to Walt at Sylph Chapbooks for passing on his neat piece [through Brian] about Ralph signing Joe Meets The Aliens. Walt’s Site is at http://www.eliotbooks.com/
Here is Brian’s first instalment of Ralph Steadman publications…
“Joe Meet’s The Alien’s” started me in collecting Ralph Steadman’s books, memorabilia, and art.
From the day I received this chapbook, it became one of my favourites and still is. I was so impressed with the quality and workmanship of this book, but also with the story tucked inside. This Chapbook in some odd way made me feel like it was made just for me. The structure of the book looked and felt like something very rare. Especially when these chaps are compared to the more common dust cover hardback books. From the very beginning they peaked my interest. Now I have been able to collect them all and will hopefully be able to share a bit from time to time.
Here is a little about the story of Joe Meet’s The Alien’s: Ralph Steadman and a friend (Joe Petro III) leave Las Vegas after gambling away their “boodle” at a casino in short time. They decide to travel through the scenic Nevada desert heading toward Area 51 in search of life from another plant. Do they find it? No telling, but what they do encounter is definitely out of the norm. The book is very funny and full of bright pictures taken during the trip which are printed in the book. A good one for the any Ralph Steadman collection indeed.
This special edition number 29 of 50 chapbooks has hand-made marbled paper and is hand-bound in World cloth, signed by Ralph Steadman, Anna Steadman, and Joe Petro III.
This Sylph Chapbook #2 is hand-made by Walt Bartholomew.
Here’s a little background story from the publisher, Walt at Sylph Chapbooks, the creator of these beautiful hand made books.
Joe Meet’s The Alien’s: [From Walt]
“When the colors for the book design were decided upon I was worried that Ralph might sign the pages in his usual red, which is nice of course, but clearly a color that didn’t fit. I thought green would be good for an “Aliens” book, but I had never seen anything signed in green by Ralph before. My thought was, ‘He loves red, so he must hate green?’ I mailed green pens to him – worried that I was telling him, a famous artist, what to do. Luckily he complied without any complaint (at least to me).
